Kurayami
by Mrs Scorpius Malfoy
Summary: She remembers how a year ago the streets were still safe. She didn't need to cover her face in fear of being recognized. He was an assassin and fallacy in her existence, and she loved it nonetheless. She, on the other hand, was more than met the eye. SasuSaku mobster!AU
1. Chapter 1

**_All rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto._**

**_For the first part of the chapter, listen to SALES by renee. For the second part, listen to The Distance by Cake._**

**_Enjoy!_**

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><p><em>The building blew up in flames, rubble shooting up in every direction.<em>

_She turned her eyes back to face the old institution that was now just a giant cloud of grey, black and fire. Her right eye was covered in blood, reminding her that she still needed to treat her head injury. Breathing heavily, she took a hold of his arm and helped him limp away from the explosion. He was half-conscious, worrying her that his wounds would not let him make it for much longer._

_The number of victims from this was unimaginable. She could not help but think that she might have known some of the innocent people killed. Still, now was not the time to stay back and mourn for the lost. She had to keep going to save her life. To save his life._

_And to think of how it all came down to the destruction of what she once thought was familiar._

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><p><strong><em>KURAYAMI<em>**

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**One year ago.**

"Phew."

Sakura wiped her forehead as she looked over at her new room. She was back at Konoha U for her third year of medical studies, meaning that she had to once again organize her new room at the university residence building. From outside of her dorm, she could hear the exciting voices of new and returning students as they were reuniting with old friends or finding where their rooms were.

Standing from the door frame of her room, she did a scan over what she had just finished organizing. Starting from the right side, her single bed was now covered with a simple gray duvet cover. She knew that it was too dull for her taste, but she wasn't going to buy a new one while her current duvet was still in good condition. Not to mention that her aunt Tsunade would not be happy of her spending money on things she didn't need. Beside her bed was her night table, already decorated with her favourite textbooks, a picture of her with aunt Tsunade and her assistant Shizune, and a small lamp light.

Her eyes moved towards the computer table. Her laptop was the only thing occupying it, but Sakura took note of how disorganized her table would get in the next few weeks as third-year notes on the health sciences conquered every bare corner. Her desk chair was comfortable enough to endure long and arduous hours of studying during the weekends. Yes, she had made sure that her chair was the only real investment in her room because of how much she used it.

She wasn't weird at all.

Next to her desk was the closet behind a sliding door. It was still bare, as she hadn't gotten around to unpack her clothing yet. Nevertheless, she already knew that there would be enough room in her closet for all of her stuff. Sakura thought about how much Ino's closet was going to suffer with her ever-growing collection of clothes, and whether her friend would once again ask her to share some of her own space to store her stuff. The door that led to the shared bathroom was right beside her closet. It was equipped with all the necessities needed for her and her next-door-neighbour.

"Perfect," she concluded, fully satisfied with her work around the room and completely ignoring the fact that she still had to empty out her luggage. She would leave that for another time. After all, it was one of her least favourite activities for some odd reason.

Sakura exited her room, locking the door after closing it, and headed towards the staircase that would lead her to the main lobby of the building. She was grateful for all the opportunities that had come to her life. If it wasn't because of the hard work that she'd put during her high school years, she would not have gotten a scholarship to get into Konoha U and pursue her dream of becoming a doctor. It was an ambition that blossomed due to her admiration of all the great deeds that her aunt and Shizune accomplished at the hospitals across the nation. Sakura wanted to make a name for herself, and medicine was the right career that would make her shine.

And Konoha U was the best -and probably most affordable place- that could teach her all she needed to know. As the one of the few universities in the Fire country, she'd been given the opportunity to do a summer abroad in the Sand country where more than just studying happened. It had been a summer that she was never going to forget; nineteen, with a summer infatuation, and a mind filled with knowledge.

But that was another story to tell.

She waved at some familiar faces passing by the lobby and went through the entrance, taking in the late summer sun touching her skin as she headed towards the bicycle parking. She was twenty now, turning twenty one quite soon, and ready for another year of knowledge and crazy shenanigans along with her friends.

Sakura unlocked her bike and prepared to take a nice stroll across campus before meeting up with her best friend.

"You're so weird biking around everywhere!" Ino would make that comment at the beginning of every term.

Yes, Sakura liked biking even in the winter term, when the sidewalks were covered in snow and ice. But then again, Ino would always be late for class because she didn't have reliable transportation. Call that karma if you'd like.

She sat on her bike and took off, heading towards the main building of Konoha U. This was one of her favourite activities. Nothing felt like looking at her campus, filled with luscious green trees, with students playing games at the main stadium.

She giggled under her breath, remembering that one time in first year when Naruto and the boys were so drunk that they broke into the stadium and began playing soccer with an empty can and made ridiculous bets such as playing around without their pants on.

Oh, those were the days...

She caught her reflection in the large pond that had been built near the university's entrance as she passed by it. Her pink hair had grown a few inches but it wasn't time for a haircut yet. In a few months' time she would ask Ino to snip some of it to maintain it at the shoulder length. Her green shirt matched her eyes, making Sakura feel like she was one with all the nature colours surrounding her in the background.

Past the large pond was a small gondola. Now, that was her favourite place in all of campus. She would often buy a cup of coffee and head over the gondola to sit down, enjoy her drink, and look over her lecture notes without the interruption of her friends. Though the few times they interrupted she welcomed them and their bottles of stolen wine with open arms.

This was definitely going to be the best year-

_BEEEEEEEEEEEEP!_

"Ouch!"

Never mind.

"Hn. Watch where you're going."

Sakura's bum felt sore after having hit the concrete street. Her bike had fallen along with her, landing on her left leg and it shot up a sharp pain on her side. She held her head, thinking that it was going to start spinning, before she paid attention to what had just happened.

The sports car that had almost hit her was black as night, with a sun roof, and a very, _very_ loud honk.

_BEEEEEP!_

It was that same honk that surprised her and sent her straight to the ground before the car got close enough to hit her.

"Would you just stop honking!?" Sakura spat. She stood up from the ground, wiped some of the dirt off her clothes, and looked at the driver behind that _fucking_ stupid car.

And there she saw him.

_BEEEP!_

"No."

Behind the aerodynamic lines of the sports car sat the asshole who almost killed her. She paid attention to the hand holding the steering wheel before she found a face behind aviator style sunglasses. His hair was just as black as the colour of his car, his pale skin contrasting against it. If it wasn't because of the fury that was building up inside of her, Sakura would have given this jerk a second look and confessed that he was, in fact, way too attractive to be a living creature.

_BEEP!_

"Get out of the way." His voice was deep. Although he wasn't screaming at her, she could hear him loud and clear.

_BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!_

"Holy shit, man, this is a pedestrian friendly street! Learn how to drive!"

Sakura picked up her bike and took decisive steps towards the driver window, which was fully opened. She threw daggers at the young man without caring if bystanders were watching her make a scene. She had to make a point clear that safety came first!

"Hn. You say pedestrian yet you're on a puny bicycle," he shot back. Sakura couldn't see his eyes but she was sure that he was glaring at her with the same intensity.

"Hey, don't you-!

Too late, he had already sped off, far, far away from her. Sakura bit her tongue holding in her anger. Her mind was still wrapping around what had just happened like it always did when she encountered assholes on the road. How dare he insult her only form of transportation!? Not everyone had rich parents to buy stupid sports cars and show off _before_ school even started!

There were too many things she wished to say to that jerkasshole with nice black hair, muscular arms, and defined features.

'Jerkasshole' wasn't even a real word yet it fit him perfectly.

Fucking. Insolent. Sports car driver.

She took it back. This was not going to be the best year ever.

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><p>"So there I was, biking around school like I always do before classes start-<p>

"You're so weird for biking around school. Like, who _does_ that nowadays?"

Ino took a sip of her iced coffee and then put her elbows on the table. She and Sakura sat beside one of the panel windows inside Amaguriama, Konoha U's main coffee and sweets shop located in the largest building.

"Quiet, Ino. Let me finish my story," Sakura also took a sip of her own iced drink and continued. "So I was biking around before coming here, and this _asshole_ almost hits me with his car!"

"Oh, Sakura. You know how often those kinds of accidents happen," shrugged Ino nonchalantly, flipping her long blonde ponytail behind her shoulder.

"That's not the point! Then he blamed _me_ for almost hitting his car!"

Yamanaka Ino was one of her older and closest friends. They've known each other since kindergarten and had found a common interest in medicine. To say that Ino was her sort of rival was an understatement. In spite of having different personalities and likes, the two girls shared a long history that was fermented on an underlying competitive relationship. It kept them on their toes, and strengthened their friendship rather than broke it.

Sakura's friend decided to pursue the same career as her after volunteering for aunt Tsunade five summers ago. They saw each other almost every day of the week, whether in class, after class, or at one of the parties thrown by their guy friends. Ino felt more like a sister as Tsunade felt like her real mother, though Sakura knew that she had no blood connection to neither of them.

Unlike Sakura, Ino was fortunate to still live with her parents since their house and flower shop was only fifteen minutes away from the university by bus. Though she saved money in accommodations, she never afforded to make it in time for their morning classes because the bus would 'come too early before she was ready to leave her house.' The Yamanakas had been nice enough to offer their guest room to Sakura, but the girl preferred the advantage of living on campus. Besides, her friends always crashed at her place after a party or a long night of exam cramming.

Her aunt Tsunade and Shizune were constantly traveling around and out of the country, which gave her Sakura the sort of independence that many of her friends didn't achieve until they entered university. When she was younger and still lived with her adopted aunt, Sakura would often travel along with her and many times had to transfer schools. Nevertheless, her friendship with the people from Konoha never faltered and the city felt like her real home.

"Yeah, he sounds like a real asshole," Ino agreed.

There were many things that she and her friends didn't have in common, such as her constant moving around or adoption story. But at the end it didn't matter; they felt like a real family.

"_Thank you_, Ino, for understanding. I swear that next time I see him I will break his nose!"

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><p>"We've got another assignment for you," spoke Jūgo on the other side of the line.<p>

"What is it?"

Sasuke held his cellphone on his ear with one hand while the other held on to the steering wheel. His arrival in Konoha could only mean that the snake wanted him to do here what he had done back in Otogakure with the people who had opposed him.

Jūgo, who was most likely sitting in some rundown apartment, gave him instructions on where, when, and who Sasuke had to take care of. His lifestyle wasn't necessarily the most convenient, though the pay often gave him luxuries he otherwise wouldn't be able to afford, but circumstances have led him to make choices that set him apart from ninety nine percent of the people in the world.

Very few knew about his profession and purpose in life. In fact, very few people knew he even existed. Sasuke's identity had turned into a myth in the underground world of many cities across countries. His talent, his past, and his goals were what defined him to the people he encountered. Even the people who worked alongside him weren't even aware of his real story and only made certain assumptions about his abilities.

It didn't bother him, though. They could talk all the wanted; it never faltered with Sasuke's perception of himself.

"Give me until midnight," Sasuke said before hanging up.

The sky was already changing from orange to black as he drove around his old city. Konoha had changed a lot since he defected from it. He had changed a lot since that night that still haunted him in his sleep.

Returning to this town, after about ten years of his absence, only meant one thing. The organization was here, and Orochimaru found it convenient how perfect the timing was to make a name in the streets of underground Konoha.

Sasuke tightened his grip on the steering wheel, speeding up past a changing light. His reflexes had been sharpened in the last ten years; now he was twenty, strong and fast enough to kill without being noticed. In other words, he was ready to kill the person who had taken everything from him when he was merely nine years old.

That night, the Night of Amaterasu, was still talked about in every form of media that he could get his hands on. A reminder always crept up behind his mind every time he opened a newspaper or heard a radio show. The night when the sky was so dark and the flames so intense that they looked black; wild, furious, destroying everything in their path.

Sasuke wondered if that part of town was left bare after his old house had been burned to the ground and the flames had taken over the entire block, killing along more innocent souls. Or maybe the whole ordeal had been turned into a legend, much like himself and the reasons as to how he lost his entire family during that night. And how nobody knew who or what caused the fire.

But he knew. He knew all too well. And he was back in town to catch that person and kill him.

In Otogakure Uchiha Sasuke was known as the Avenger. The teenage boy who worked under Orochimaru and was trained to kill any man who crossed the under snake's path. There were many stories behind Sasuke's arrival in Otogakure. Some said he ran from Konoha to Oto seeking power after he'd heard that Orochimaru planned to take over every business in the underground world of organized crime. Others said that he arrived in a motorcycle, already knowing how to kill with an ancient katana that he had stolen from his parents' safe.

None of the stories were right. Only Sasuke knew how he had arrived in Oto, why he was trained by Orochimaru, and what his purpose was with his secret profession.

His cellphone rang. It was Jūgo once again.

"Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention that this man is well-known for spreading private information of other underground individuals. And Orochimaru wants it done _before_ midnight."

"Tell him to fuck off then," replied Sasuke and hung up.

It was nighttime. That was when his real life began. Sasuke often wondered if other people in his position would confuse their real identities with the disguise they needed to put on in daylight. Naruto had left this lifestyle five years ago, decided to come back to Konoha, and lead a normal life after achieving his goal. Sasuke, on the other hand, was still caught in the spiderweb of secret organizations and silent murders. His goal was getting closer by the day and he couldn't afford mixing up his real self with his fake one.

Yet sometimes he confused both. He would this that his fake personality was the one that roamed around during the nighttime, killing those who have done harm to innocent people. Other times, he would often pretend that his falsehood was only present during the daytime, when he needed to pretend doing mundane things like the rest of the world.

Coming back to Konoha meant adopting a new persona. Orochimaru had told him to enroll in Konoha U because that was where he would find most of the information in the underground business, and where Sasuke's target would most likely be found. He thought about how corrupt this city must be that its residents can't even see what is really holding it all up together.

Sasuke reached his arriving point. It was a late-night club that was still closed but had a faint light flickering in its second floor. His assignment was an easy task. Go in, shed some blood without killing, make a threat. It was Orochimaru's simplest form of making his name well-known. In extension, it was Sasuke's way of making himself known in the underground world and to indirectly announce that he had returned to charge the killer of his family for what he owed.

He sneaked in between the shadows, his katana hanging across his back. Years of passing off as a shadow had turned that ability into his second nature. It came in handy whenever he needed to escape from Orochimaru and his team when they were getting on his nerves, or when he needed to make a quick kill without leaving any traces of blood or his presence.

Sasuke was slightly amused at how easy it had been to sneak up on this group of mobsters. They had been sitting around a table playing poker. All of them with a cigarette in between their lips and a bottle of whisky on the side. He unsheathed his katana and grabbed the nearest man by the neck, his weapon grazing the skin.

The rest of the group jumped in surprise and, Sasuke noticed, struggled in getting their guns out in a drunken manner. This was borderline pathetic. The mobster group was definitely on the lower scale. Amateurs who were trying to make a name in a business that would only bring them a ridiculous death and no remembrance.

"Orochimaru sends a message," Sasuke started. His voice was deep and frightening to the amateur mobsters, who were looking at him with deer light eyes and shaking hands. "He wants you to go around and announce that he's back in town."

With a swift move that the other men barely registered, Sasuke raised his katana and swung it across the hanging light above the poker table. The whole room went dark, and the mobsters began to roar in fear knowing that was coming next. However, Sasuke already knew that no fatal blows would happen tonight and used his diversion to sneak out of the building.

He put his weapon in the back seat of his black Audi, sat on the driver seat, and took off. His cellphone rang for the third time that night.

"It's done," he announced before the other side of the line could say anything.

"Very well done," replied a hissing voice. Orochimaru let out a low chuckle, clearly amused at something Sasuke had no intention to find out. "Ah, Sasuke-kun. Don't forget to behave well when you go back to school. We don't want any unnecessary attention while you're looking for Itachi, don't we?"

Sasuke hung up at hearing the name of his main target come out of Orochimaru's mouth. Anger began to boil in his blood as he drove back to the headquarters and he had to maintain his control. He didn't want to almost hit another stupid girl who crossed his path. Trying to divert his mind, Sasuke thought if he would see that idiot biking around campus once the school year started.

He was five days away from coming back to the normal world. The world where the people his age actually studied to achieve something useful and ethical with their lives. The world Naruto had joined five years ago after taking his place back as his parents' legitimate son.

To its students, Konoha U was a well-known university in the Fire country that had produced more successful alumni than the other great universities combined. It boasted about its privilege and long history of well deeds for the world. To Uchiha Sasuke, who knew the real Konoha U, the university was on the brink of bankruptcy and its administration had turned to the underground business to look for funds to stay open. A moral end with immoral means, in other words. Orochimaru had learned of this piece of information and decided that moving back to Konoha to take its underground world would mean that he had the upper hand in every decision made by the academic institution. In turn, he would have all the power needed to rule the city and the country from the underground.

It was a brilliant plan, Sasuke had to admit, but it was what interested him the least of returning to Konoha and making himself known as a Konoha U student and the best assassin under Orochimaru's wing.

Itachi was in town too, along with his own organization that brought the death of everyone he once loved.

Uchiha Itachi would pay for the death of their parents.

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><p>Orochimaru sat on a deep red velvet chair. He had his snake pet on his lap and was stroking its head. His near white skin contrasted with the darkness of his long, straight, black hair. Kabuto stood on his right side, his arms crossed behind his back. His round shaped glasses reflected the artificial light glowing from the room's ceiling. Its grey walls were bare, aside from the chair Orochimaru was currently sitting in.<p>

"Sasuke-kun," the underground lord started,"you must feel just as excited as me to come back to our hometown. Brings back many memories, no?"

The young man kept silent. He was familiar with Orochimaru's manner of speech. He liked to snake around a subject before getting on with what he wanted to say.

"I take it your new room accommodations are well-suited. It's a lovely place that will soon be under my control, indeed," Orochimaru continued. "There will be more than just studying for you, Sasuke-kun. I have a special assignment just for you, and my expectations are no lower than A plus. Kabuto, if you will do the honours."

Orochimaru's personal assistance uncrossed his arms and Sasuke saw how he handed over a white folder. It was exactly like all the ones he'd seen in the past; documents attached to a mugshot picture of who was his next victim or who he had to spy on. The things Sasuke had to do in the past might have been considered impossible to other people, but not many realized that he kept a moral code.

Sasuke would only kill those who had done harm to innocents, and Orochimaru knew that well. He would only shed the blood of perpetrators who have ruined victims who were in a vulnerable state. It was a code that worked perfectly with Orochimaru's goals; many people he wanted to get rid of were unethical to begin with.

"Your new assignment will be to keep an eye on one individual," announced Orochimaru. "This is one of your main tasks as you pretend to be a student at the university. You will not have to kill this person. In fact, if somebody poses a threat, you can have all the fun you want. However, the person you are assigned to look after must, by all means, remain in safety."

The crooked smile that Orochimaru gave him was enough for Sasuke know that there was much more behind his plan. Sasuke never cared about his master's main goals; he had his own and as long as his code was followed then he didn't have a problem with whatever Orochimaru asked him to do. Sometimes it was killing people, infiltrating organizations, or simply following one person around.

"Here is the file. It is just a simple task of keeping tabs on her. You will report to me or Kabuto about her whereabouts and what she is up to."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, wondering why the snake was giving him such a simple assignment. Spying on people, yes, he had done, and for good reason. He'd never had such an easy job as babysitting a girl and there was probably more than Orochimaru was willing to say. Nevertheless, Orochimaru extended the white folder he was holding for Sasuke to take. When the younger man reached out for it the pet snake made a hissing noise, as if it was partaking in the secret meeting the three men were having.

"You must be certain that she never finds out what your true purpose is, Sasuke-kun. This is just a small favour I am doing for someone." The creeping crooked smile on his white face told Sasuke otherwise, but he didn't think too much of it. Orochimaru was well-known for his questioning characteristics.

Sasuke opened the file, looking first a zoomed in photograph of a girl holding a cellphone in one hand and a thick textbook in another. A part of him thought the universe was going against his character, as he emphasized his eyes in the most noticeable trait of his assignment. Pink hair was hard to miss.

_Full Name: Haruno Sakura_

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><p><strong><em>So here I am starting with another little project. It will be completely different from what I have ever written before, and I am excited to see what your reactions are :)<em>**

**_The next chapter will be up next week. Take care until then!_**

**_MSM_**


	2. Chapter 2

**Listen to Waiting by Dash Berlin during the dancing scene. Or any of your favourite dance tracks ;) **

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><p><em>She remembers how a year ago the streets were still a safe place. <em>

_Walking around in the middle of the night did not come with threats from people who have grown too desperate to live in this place._

_She didn't have to cover her face in fear of being recognized._

_The streets were not even taken care of anymore._

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><p><strong>CHAPTER TWO<strong>

Sakura heard the bubbly sound of video calling through her laptop speakers, and took one last look at her hair in the mirror before turning back on the screen. An older woman appeared on the other side, looking at her webcam, and waved once noticed that Sakura was connected to the video calling.

"Sakura, love, I miss you. How's university so far?" her adoptive aunt asked.

The girl smiled at seeing Tsunade looking well. In spite of her arduous work of traveling from place to place, her aunt always managed to look her best in spite of her years. Tsunade's long honey blonde hair was parted in two thin low pig tails while her bangs framed her attractive face. Sakura would always notice how men of every age would linger their looks at her aunt, and was well aware that their eyes always lowered until they reached her large bosom. Nevertheless, Sakura knew that her Tsunade was more than just her looks.

"Classes haven't started yet, but my room is all set up. I have no problems with my neighbour yet, and I hope it stays like that for the rest of the year."

Sakura quickly looked at her bed, which was covered with all the underwear that was meant to go in her closet. If Tsunade couldn't see it then it wasn't a problem. She would take care of that later.

They continued talking about everyday things, catching up on what both had been up to since their separation three weeks ago. Tsunade had to take an emergency operation faraway from Konoha, taking her assistant Shizune along with her, and Sakura had to stay at Ino's place until the school year began. Her aunt always came and went like that, but it never bothered Sakura as she always looked up to the giving woman. Except for when she had to look after Tsunade when she had had a few too many drinks and gone to the casino.

Oh well, everyone had flaws.

It was actually Tsunade's gambling that had brought her close to Sakura's parents. Although she didn't remember them, her aunt always told her the story of how they saved her from losing everything and helped her find work as a medic who traveled internationally, helping out those who couldn't afford getting the best health care. Although her gambling and drinking habits never left her, the Haruno couple was able to find her a stable income.

Sakura's parents had passed away when she was merely one year old, and she didn't have any memories of what they were like. Her aunt Tsunade said that they had been a powerful couple who had gotten into a serious fire and had left Sakura under her care. After the paperwork was done, Sakura became Tsunade's adopted daughter but always preferred being called aunt. Having grown up without a reason as to why she couldn't call Tsunade her mother never bothered Sakura. The woman was more than just a guardian to her; she was her teacher, friend, and idol.

Besides, Sakura spent a lot of her childhood going from town to town, learning how to help those in need. Her favourite childhood memories were of her following Tsunade making rounds in the hospital, wearing a white coat, and checking on patients. It felt like walking with an angel who brought life to sick people.

"When are you coming back to Konoha, Tsunade-obasan?"

"We still have about two months left in here. The outbreak in the Hachō village was worse than they thought it would be, but Shizune and I are handling it better than before. Are you going out tonight?"

"Perhaps. Ino wants to go out dancing before the school year starts. It's that usual tradition we have."

"Ah, yes. I remember. Don't drink too much, love. Last night Shizune dragged me to the pub and my hangover hasn't left me yet. Then we found a pig and decided to keep it as a pet."

"I didn't drag you anywhere! You said you wanted to go out!" Sakura heard Shizune's voice in the background. She couldn't help but smile.

"Tell her I say hi, obasan. Take care and we will talk next week," said the girl.

Sakura waved goodbye to her aunt and then closed her laptop. She got up from her seat and headed towards her now fully organized closet. It was time to look for that special black dress she'd been craving to wear.

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><p>The deep bass blasted from the speakers and it made every inch of her body vibrate with its deep impact. A continuous rhythm made the crowds around them jump and dance. Sakura was reminded why Ino liked going to these things -and why she agreed on tagging along with her.<p>

"C'mon Sakura! It's the first party of the school year and you know how I like them," insisted her best friend.

Sakura only agreed because they were supposed to meet up with Tenten and Hinata.

Ino took her hand as she trailed around the large crowd of university students, who were to entranced with the music to pay attention to the two new arrivals. Sakura had to admit that Shushuya was her favourite club in all of Konoha. With its five rooms and large dance floors, and what it seemed an endless amount of bar tables, it had become Sakura's favourite dance club in first year. Ino liked it just as much, if not even more. They always came in wearing their short black dresses, grabbed two or five drinks, and let out all the exhaustion of being med students on the dance floor.

Not to mention that here was when she first hooked up with a guy. But that was a story for another time.

Sakura bobbed her head along with the beat as they pushed through the crowds. Ino led her to a different room of Shushuya, the one where one could sit down and have a couple of drinks without the music blasting into their ears. Sakura looked around, searching for her friends in the purple-lit, white furnished room. There were a couple of girls dancing, holding on to their drinks as they swayed to the music. They recognized a head of long navy blue hair sitting on one of the booths, and Ino waved over before Hinata stood up and grabbed her hand to pull her in the booth.

"Hinata! I haven't seen you in ages!" exclaimed Ino before giving the other girl a hug.

They settled themselves in the booth, Sakura and Tenten on one side and Ino and Hinata on the other. It all went back to the good old days of high school giggles and crushes. Sakura would never get enough of the company of her old friends.

"Hey bartender, get us a round of shots of your strongest stuff!" yelled Tenten to a passing bartender. He gave her a thumbs up and disappeared among the crowd.

They were getting _wasted_ tonight. Was-ted.

"Ino, last time we saw each other was three weeks ago," laughed Hinata, giving the blonde a small squeeze in the shoulders.

Tenten had already finished her studies and was planning to move in with her boyfriend Neji, Hinata's older cousin. Hinata, on the other hand, was still studying early childhood education at Konoha U, but she was on the opposite side of campus so their reunions were not as often as they'd liked. The four of them were wearing short black dresses, knowing that this night was going to be one of the greatest.

"Okay, ladies. Ready? Cheers!"

Sakura downed the shot that the bartender had placed in front of her, and had missed how the burning sensation of the house sake felt like going down her system. She banged the empty shot glass on the table, making encouraging comments to get more rounds on the table. "Another round, bartender!"

By the time that her fourth shot had come around, Sakura was beginning to feel her fingers tingling. Well, it was clear that she wanted to be a cheap drunk tonight as she came to the club with an empty stomach. Four shots and two pints of beer. She still had it in her. Hinata, on the other hand, already had a red glow spread across her cheeks as she took a sip of her rum and coke.

"Alright, I'm tired of sitting. Let's go dance," announced Ino, and she left the booth before the other girls could even finish their drinks. The three girls downed what they had left, Sakura drinking her beer as if it was water, and exited the booth. They followed Ino's long blonde hair into the adjacent room, where the music was louder and traveled faster through their bodies.

Sakura held on to Hinata's and Tenten's hands as they made a circle and began to dance around. Her heart palpitated faster and faster as she began to jump around, enjoying every bit of music and alcohol that ran through her veins. The drop came down hard upon them, and the girls couldn't stop giggling as everyone on the dance floor reacted to the beat of the song. Alcohol was definitely getting to their heads.

"Oh my god, it's Naruto!" exclaimed Tented, who had separated her hand from Sakura and pointed to a nearby blond head.

Sakura looked to where her friend had pointed and found the boy looking straight at them. He waved and began to find his way towards them amid the crowd. His bright feral grin could be seen from miles away, and as he approached them Sakura only felt like the night couldn't get any better. She wasn't so close with Naruto but was quite aware of his partying personality. More importantly, it was obvious that Hinata had a huge crush on the guy and it was always amusing to see them interact.

"Hello ladies, who knew we would see each other here?" he greeted, snaking his arms around Ino and Hinata. The latter was much redder than before and it was because of more than just the alcohol. Maybe it was because of the shirt that Naruto was wearing or the way he held on so close to her face.

Ino laughed and playfully punched him in his shoulder, then she freed herself from his arm and took a step back. Yes, everyone found it amusing how Hinata blushed whenever Naruto was around. "You silly, it's the first party of the school year. We're obviously gonna be here," Ino said before losing a bit of her balance.

The other four laughed at her drunken moment.

"Oh man, Ino, I'm never gonna forget that time you-

"Silence!"

"Anyway, I'm here with a couple of people on the second floor. Come swing by sometime. We'll be here _aaaaaall_ night!" Naruto gave Hinata's shoulders a last squeeze before disappearing into the crowd.

The girls didn't even have time to wave goodbye to their golden friend before turning back into the beat of the music. Sakura was dancing, skipping up and down with her arms up, not even caring that her feet were going to throb next morning with all her frantic movements. She was surrounded by the friends she loved, her girls, her partners. This night couldn't get any better.

Ino and Tenten were yelling at each others ears, but the others couldn't make out what they were discussing as the music was too loud. The two girls began giggling at whatever comment they made and Sakura couldn't decipher if their smiles were because of the alcohol or because of an idea that came up to their minds.

"This is the perfect chance for Hinata to get close to him," yelled Tenten in her ear after grabbing her hand.

Sakura's face caught on to their contagious smile after she understood how perfect that idea seemed. The three girls looked at their shyest companion, who was not shy at that moment as she danced, oblivious to the plot her friends were about to follow. Ino interrupted Hinata from her trance and pointed towards the direction that Naruto had gone. The Hyūga girl's face burned with red, and Sakura grabbed her by the elbow as the others encouraged her to follow their plans.

"Girl, this is your chance. Take it!" encouraged Tenten.

The quarter, holding on to each others' hands, made their way across the dance floor. Sakura didn't care about the sweaty bodies grinding up against her; she needed another drink before she began to mind the large crowd, though. One of her favourite songs crept up in the DJ's mix and she couldn't help but dance while walking in the crowd. Before Sakura realized, she was singing along as the beat of her heart matched that of the song.

The girls reached the spiraling staircase that led them to the second floor of the club. Much like the room they had previously been in, this second floor consisted of comfortable seats and lower tables where guests could socialize (if that was even possible with the loud music). Ino, who was leading the pack, followed by Tenten, Sakura, and a hesitant Hinata, looked back and winked at the girls.

"Beer," said Sakura as a bartender passed by beside her with a tray filled with pints. She didn't care whose they were, and took the closest glass to her hand and chugged it down her throat. That was what she needed to make the night better. That extra buzz that could keep her going until the morning.

Tenten saw Naruto's table first, and directed the girls to a group of guys who were sitting down in one of the biggest booths. Naruto, on the other hand, had a drink on him and waved so hard at them that Sakura thought his arm was going to fall off. They got closer to the group, and Sakura recognized many of the familiar faces of her childhood and university life. Her eyes began to travel down the L-shaped white booth, which was placed in front of a wide glass table filled with empty bottles of sake and beer. Though her mind was spinning at this moment -chugging down that beer so fast had probably affected her more than she'd predicted-, she made out six familiar faces.

Kiba was beside Naruto, his drunken arm wrapped around the blond's shoulders as he drank from a bottle of imported beer. Shino, ever so quiet, had his arms crossed and observed how pathetic his friends were acting. Choji and Shikamaru were busy easy a bowl of nachos to notice the girls' arrival. Classy, Sakura's sarcasm thought, in contrast to the other two lives of the party.

Then her eyes set on _him._

"You!"

Him. Sitting with his back slouched as his hands were in his pant pockets. Wearing a silver suit that seemed of a material too expensive for Sakura's taste.

Looking more attractive than when he had been sitting behind his Audi S6, glaring at her.

Well, fuck.

"Huh? Sakura-chan, y'knowthisbastard?" slurred Naruto, but Sakura was beyond the point of caring what her friends were saying around her.

The girl didn't even notice how her friends had joined Naruto and Kiba in their drinking games as she kept throwing daggers at that asshole who was casually sitting on the sofa. He clearly didn't give a shit and didn't give her any attention, and it only made her more irritated. The attractive-asshole-who-almost-killed-her didn't even bother to check that they had met before and opened a beer bottle, took a sip, and put it back down on the glass table.

He looked so perfect doing that action that something unsettled inside her.

"This _bastard,"_ Sakura began, pointing at the black haired idiot, "almost fucking killed me the other day!"

The alluded individual chuckled under his breath, causing Sakura's blood to boil.

"Oh shit," Naruto continued, but he was clearly too drunk to understand how pissed off she was at the moment. "Fuck, Sasuke. It's not even your first week here and you're already killing people?"

The blond boy paused, caught on to his words, and began laughing at his own joke with such a passion that he fell backwards into the sofa, dragging down Kiba and Hinata (who had been at his other side) along with him.

Sakura's alcohol-charged body didn't pay attention to how much Naruto was laughing, and much less to the murderous look that the asshole named Sasuke was giving his friend. She didn't catch on to the slight tension that settled upon the two men as one was too drunk to care and the other too angry to forget. Instead, Sakura decided that it was the perfect time to approach the black-haired Sasuke and glare at him from a closer distance. She grabbed to the collar of his black shirt -she noticed how silky it felt in her fingers- and ignored the gasps coming from the girls as she lowered her face to the same eye-level as his.

"You didn't even apologize, asshole," she uttered angrily.

He raised an eyebrow, as if he was accepting a challenge, and replied "Who gives a shit? Next time check where you're going in your stupid bicycle. Or even better, get a fucking car."

Oh, no he didn't.

Sakura felt her fist rise up into the air, but it was caught by Ino before it landed a well-deserved punch in that idiot's face. Then, she felt someone take her from her waist and drag her away from him. All the while he carried a nonchalant expression of not caring what went on around him.

"Let-me-go! Why the hell are you holding me back!?" Sakura yelled in frustration as she swayed her arms and legs. Shikamaru and Shino had settled her down on the opposite end of the booth, close to Naruto and her girls, but she kept throwing daggers at Sasuke with her eyes.

She was ready to pounce his handsome face with her fist until it was no longer recognizable! Naruto, who had been offering drinks to the shy Hinata, caught attention to Sakura's ill-tempered aura.

"That bastard o'er there... Sas'ke's my best fr'nd, Sak'ra-chaaaaaan."

She didn't give a fuck who was friends with him! Naruto's speech was too slurred to fully understand anyway. The alcohol in her system was almost replaced by the growing displeasure of the idiot sitting not too far away from her and she felt like the only thing that kept her going was the song beat banging on her chest.

"I'm gonna head home," Sakura announced to Tenten's ears, aware that she was most likely the less drunk one of her friends.

"You want us to walk you?" she asked her, her head spinning in circles. That was enough evidence for Sakura to know that none of her friends were sober enough to walk her home at that moment. She didn't feel like bothering the guys either, and preferred to walk herself out of the club before she regretted it.

Sakura gave Tenten one last hug before she stood up from the booth and headed towards the spiraling stairs. She overheard Ino complaining about how Shikamaru encouraged Chouji's eating habits while the former shrugged his shoulders and commented how troublesome she was when she drank. Sakura didn't even look back at the booth filled with her friends, and went down the stairs, holding on to the rail just in case she was too intoxicated to keep her balance.

Being alone, she struggled a bit while going through the crowd. Sakura checked the clock at the entrance of the club and saw that it was close to two in the morning. Not too early nor too late to head home; she was going by instinct right now and her bed seemed like a better companion than a crowd of drunken young adults.

After she exited the club, where the line to get in was still snaking around the corner, she felt a light breeze hit against her face. It heightened her senses and she did not feel as drunk as before. Perfect weather for an after-club walk back to her dorm. The music was still buzzing in her ears, and she wouldn't confess how many times she stumbled on her feet even though she didn't feel as intoxicated.

Late-night walks back to her dorm were always one of her favourite things to do at Konoha U. The campus really did shine in the darkness; its old buildings acquired a sort of grace in the darkness that wasn't normally seen during daylight. Sakura smiled to herself, thinking of how silly it would sound if she said she loved Konoha U in the dark to another person. They'd think she was weird.

She would think of how much she enjoyed saying that word. Kurayami -that is, darkness- always had an interesting ring in her voice.

Everyone was weird, whatever.

"A young woman walking around in the middle of the night is never a good idea," a deep voice interrupted her thoughts. "Especially after having a couple of drinks."

Sakura froze on her spot and turned around so fast that her neck might have snapped. And there she found him.

The reason why she left the club so early and why, all of a sudden, she remembered why she was so pissed off.

The asshole bastard named Sasuke was standing not too far away from her, with his hands tucked in his pockets and a blank expression. How did she not hear him walk close to her?

"What the fuck are you doing now? Stalking me?" she asked bitterly. Her hands turned into fists as she tried to control her irritation.

"You owe me," Sasuke simply stated.

That was strike two.

"Huh, I owe you nothing you idiot! You owe me an apology!"

"And you owe me money for my drink."

Sakura was taken aback by the unpredictable words. And then she remembered that pint of exquisite yellow goodness that she had snatched from a bartender's tray. Her night couldn't get any better, could it?

"Let's make a compromise," she started, fully turning her body so it was facing his. "I'll take that beer as your excuse of an apology and we can go on with our lives."

"No."

"Then apologize, asshole!"

Was this the sort of talk that came out when she had a couple of drinks?

"Sorry."

Once again, Sakura was bewildered by Sasuke's answer. He was playing games with her, obviously.

"For fuck's sake, at least mean it!"

Sasuke began walking towards her and she felt like she couldn't move from her spot. Once he came to stand beside her, Sakura noticed how tall he was, and how well that suit looked on him though it seemed effortlessly sitting against his body. He looked down on her, reminding her that she lacked in the height department compared to him.

"I already apologized. Now I will walk you back to your dorm and you will give me money for my beer," he commanded.

Sakura closed and opened her eyes, calming down her desperation to pull on his stupid hair. She was too tired to argue at this point, reaching that sleepy stage that came after drinking.

She was surprised she hadn't puked yet. She owed that to her strong Haruno stomach. And Tsunade's training, of course.

In an unpredictable act of trusting, she grabbed Sasuke's arm and led him across the campus. If he thought he was 'going to walk her back to her dorm' was going to calm down her need to punch his face he was wrong.

They walked in silence. Or rather, Sakura dragged him from one side of Konoha U to the other, towards the dorms. She got her key out for the entrance of her residence building, uttered a small greeting to the janitor cleaning the windows in the lobby, and headed towards the stairs. Sasuke followed her without making a sound, and if it wasn't because she had a tight grip on his suit jacket, she would've thought that he had ditched her a while ago.

Muttering offensive words under her breath, Sakura reached the door to her room and unlocked it with the same key from the entrance. She opened the door, not caring how some students standing in the hallway witnessed her shoving an attractive young man into her room before locking the door again.

She searched for her light, turned it on, and found some change in her wallet before turning back on Sasuke.

"Here you go," she planted the money in his hand exasperated.

How could such an attractive young person be such an asshole? Sakura only needed to remind herself of all the assholes she'd met in her life to know that Sasuke was one of them. He simply stared at her, not willing to move his eyes from the growing glow in her cheeks. Fucking idiot, making her feel all uncomfortable under his dark eyes.

"Well, good night then."

Sasuke, after a moment of silence, turned around and headed towards her bedroom door. He opened it, and as he was halfway out of her dorm, he turned around.

"By the way, nice underwear," and he exited.

Sakura's glowing cheeks only got worse as she finally noticed how his face left an appetite in her body. She stood in the same spot for another minute before she looked around and saw what had caused Sasuke to make such a comment.

Evidently, she had forgotten to put all her panties in the drawer, and he had seen them laid out on her bed, their bright and obnoxious colours clashing against the grey of her duvet cover.

Her stomach began to betray her, and she ran towards the bathroom, turning on the lights and heaving on the toilet.

This had definitely been one of her worst nights _ever._

* * *

><p>So this was Haruno Sakura. He had been right; the girl who almost scratched his car was the same girl he had to keep an eye on. The gods were really against him if they thought he could go around babysitting that pink-haired creature.<p>

Sasuke walked out of the residence building with his hands in his pockets, feeling the money she'd given him rustle against the fabric. Though he did not need the extra cash, his impromptu plan had worked out perfectly. Now he knew what type of person she was, where she lived, and how easy it was to sway her his way. This babysitting task would be more annoying than anything, but at least he would amuse himself with the subject's lifestyle.

It was so different from his life that it barely made sense how they both ended up under the same sky.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, I updated earlier than expected. Maybe I just want to get the story out!<strong>

**Thank you for being my first reviewer! To those who added the story to their favourites and follows, I hope to great from you soon :)**

**Sincerely,**

**MSM**


	3. Chapter 3

**For the first part, listen to CHANCE! by UVERworld.**

* * *

><p><em>Once upon a time, this had been home for him.<em>

_Once upon a time, this had been home for her._

_Now, though, home was a no man's land that neither of them could ever return to._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER THREE<strong>

Sasuke decided that it was time to become familiar with his environment. After last night's events, he'd realized that the easiest way to keep tabs on Sakura was to approach her as a normal student. And for that, he needed to thoroughly understand the world she lived in. His reality had never allowed him time to explore how regular people his age fared in the world; had it not been for this task, Sasuke would have never bothered learning what it felt like to be a regular student. Besides, getting to know Konoha U was also a perfect way of concealing his true intentions in the city. Nobody, including Itachi, would ever guess that he was hiding in plain sight.

And for that matter, Sasuke went to the one place he was looking forward to knowing.

He swiped his student card on a slot that opened a glass-door and led to a long corridor. On each side of the corridor, there were signs that showed Male, Female, and Gender Neutral change rooms. He readjusted the bag that was slinging on his shoulders and headed to the first door to his left, his light footsteps the only were the only sounds, and he found an empty locker room.

After getting himself changed into more comfortable clothing, Sasuke went straight for the indoor basketball court after exiting the locker room. He picked up a basketball and bounced it to the middle of the court. With a smirk on his face, he turned towards the entrance, and found that he was indeed not alone anymore.

"I see that you still like to play ball," commented Naruto, who was leaning against the door.

The blond boy was wearing his gym clothes as well, proudly showing the Konoha U crest on his chest. He walked towards Sasuke, who was still bouncing the basketball, and took it from him with one swift move. Naruto turned around, and began to bounce the ball, teasing his friend.

"Bring it on, dead last."

Sooner than later, they were engaging in a one-on-one game. Their loud and quick footsteps were echoing on the high ceiling of the gym. As they were competing against one another, both took notice of how similar their level of agility was. Naruto once again took the basketball from Sasuke's hand, and began to run towards the net. Once he was ready to jump and shoot, his friend got in the middle, snatched the object away from him and successfully scored.

Sasuke still remembered the first time he met Naruto. They were assigned on the same bunk at the orphanage, and they'd fought for the upper bed. Clearly, Sasuke had won that time but he had also fermented a healthy competitive friendship. After experiencing the trauma of losing all of his loved ones, Naruto had been the only one who would remind him that there was still a life after loss. The blond had been in a similar situation, having had to go to the orphanage because of the death of his father and the people who were assigned to eliminate him.

They looked after one another for the rest of their time at the orphanage. If Sasuke got into a fight with the other kids at the orphanage, Naruto would back him up and vice versa. They would calm one another down if they lost control. They would share socks, sweaters, pillows, if one or the other didn't have any. Sasuke had to confess that the Uzumaki boy was more of a family member than any of his blood relatives had ever been. When they were adopted together, along with other kids, they were taught to fight under Jiraiya and Orochimaru's tutelage with the intent of staying in the shadows for the rest of their lives, knowing that the light would never accept them as everyday human beings. However, it all changed when Naruto had the opportunity to go back to normal society.

Naruto had always said that he would 'become someone big' because of his real family. Sasuke never truly believed him until they were introduced to Orochimaru and Jiraiya. The two older men looked after them, but Naruto eventually branched off and did not follow the same dark path Sasuke did. Instead, he finally became the important individual he always swore he'd become. Having returned to his mother and her family, Naruto was now recognized as a member of one of the most important political families in the Fire Nation. Sasuke didn't see him until he came back to Konoha. When he heard that his old friend had returned, Naruto did not stop until he tracked Sasuke down and was able to get in contact. When Sasuke found out that Naruto was also a student at the Konoha U Faculty of Diplomacy, he realized he had something small to look forward to.

Last night had been the first time they had seen each other since they were thirteen. They both had grown, Sasuke noted, but Naruto was still slightly shorter than him. Nevertheless, the Uzumaki's reflexes were still as good as before. Sasuke was grateful that their reunion was disguised as a night out though he wished he could have just seen Naruto, exchanged words with him, and then parted ways. They were not able to say anything to one another throughout the entire night because of the loud music and large crowd, which was the type of environment Sasuke guessed Naruto would prefer. Nevertheless, a part of him was content in seeing that his oldest friend was enjoying life and did not have as many worries as before.

Not to mention that Naruto's coincidental connection to Haruno Sakura was going to make his assignment much easier.

"Score!" exclaimed Naruto, lifting up his fist in victory.

This time he let him win. Sasuke wouldn't be so lenient on their next match.

As they sat down on one of the benches on the side of the indoor basketball court, Sasuke realized that it was the first time he ever felt like catching up about his life with someone else. Only Naruto could bring that out in him, he noted, although he still preferred to remain silent. Nevertheless, there were many things he needed to hear from his friend, as well as many things to tell him. Naruto was well-acquainted with the lifestyle he followed, and had come to terms with it once he realized that Sasuke was determined to continue until he reached his goal.

"So Sakura-chan, eh? I noticed how you followed her after she took off 'cause she was pissed off at something." Unlike the rest of his friends who were too intoxicated to notice them leaving, Naruto still paid attention to small details like those when he was in that state.

"She took my drink, so I had to get my money back from it," Sasuke explained simply.

Naruto chuckled. "It's good to know that you're adapting to society as well as many other broke students." There was a clear sarcasm in his tone; Sasuke's bank account proved otherwise. "How's business going?"

"Business as usual. You?"

"Honestly, at first it was difficult to adapt. All that time livin' in the underground and getting trained to do shady stuff messed up with me at first, but Ero-sennin was a good role model -yes, he is still the same perverted old man-" Naruto added, "and got me to my mom. She's amazing, y'know, like how I always pictured her. We get along really well, and I never knew that I had so many red-haired relatives. Like, holy shit I thought Karin was the only one! I'm the odd one out 'cause of my dad!

"But school was alright. I had the right marks to get in here. I mean, I'm pretty sure my family had something to do with that 'cause they didn't want me to be a bum." Naruto cracked up a smile at his own words. "If they only knew the type of lifestyle I had before... Oh, here's a picture of our last reunion," he pulled out a crumbled photograph from his pocket and handed it over to Sasuke. "If you see Karin, give this to her. I think my long lost relative would like to see this."

The Uzumaki continued rambling on and on about his life in Konoha. Sasuke felt slightly jealous for his friend's joy, thinking that he was still looking for his vendetta to start his life. It's been years, and he still felt like he was nine and had a life to live. Naruto, on the other hand, felt like he was far away in the normal world of family affairs, a set future, and a good conscience on his shoulders. He wondered if he would ever reach that same state, even after killing so many people for Orochimaru.

"Y'know, Sasuke, I was always happy that you're the way you are," the alluded raised an eyebrow at the statement. "No, seriously. You're still going by that code of going after the villains like a superhero even in the conditions you're in. I saw how the others, like Suigetsu, were just going down the drain knowing that their lives would be fucked up forever. But you're still pulling yourself together."

Naruto always had a way with words even if he had never picked up a dictionary.

"I see that you've actually learned how to use words at school."

"It's good to see that you're fine," he simply said. Naruto knew that one sentence from Sasuke after one of his own long speeches was as good as it got. They knew each other so well that of one did all the talking and the other didn't that it wouldn't be an issue.

After a long pause, Naruto broke the silence. "Jiraiya told me he is be back in town. Is that why you're here too?"

Naruto knew him too well. Sometimes, he would say the blond knew him better than he knew himself.

"Yes."

* * *

><p>Half of the lecture hall was empty on her first day of classes.<p>

Sakura sat down in one of the first rows, not too close yet not too far away from the chalk board. There were probably another thirty students sitting in a class of a hundred. Not a bad turnout for the first day, she noticed, remembering those classes where she was the only person who had shown up. The professor hadn't even shown up for that class on the first day, much to her chagrin.

8:56 read the clock. She already had her notebook out and her pen ready to write. Call it habit but she was always ready for whatever her professors said. Sometimes they would slip in things that would end up on the final exam and half the class wouldn't get the hint. This was a third year biology class, hence more serious than previous years. Perhaps this could be the year where professors began lectures on day one.

The door opened and closed a couple of more times, students swinging in and finding seats in the numerous empty chairs. Sakura averted her eyes towards the entrance, wondering if Ino was even going to show up on the first day. This was one of their compulsory courses, taken by all students in the medicine faculty. The elective courses prepared them for what they would specialize in.

Sakura had taken great interest in pathology, finding it amusing how one could study the body to find the causes for diseases. Ino, on the other hand, wanted to specialize in botanical medicine. They would always joke around how one would send a patient to the other, who would give a prescription of the best hallucinogen in the market. It was a terrible joke, but it made the hours go by faster in lectures such as this one.

The professor was already setting up his presentation at the front of the class. Students began to quieten down, taking notice that class was about to start.

It was 9:05 when the entrance door opened again. Being the only sound in the lecture hall, Sakura couldn't help but look at who had entered.

She wanted to throw her brand-new notebook across the room when she recognized the black hair.

That Sasuke guy walked up to sit in an upper corner of the lecture hall, not even noticing that a certain Haruno Sakura was glaring at him from below.

She had never seen him in any of her classes before, considering that this was an advanced lecture. He must be a transfer student from out of town. Someone who, by the grace of a superior being, always ended up marking a bitter part of her day.

"Good day class, and welcome back," began her professor.

The rest of the lecture sounded like muffled voices in her ears for she couldn't stop thinking about Sasuke's random appearances in her life. So much for coming to class on the first day, sarcasm told her.

* * *

><p>"You totally hooked up with him."<p>

"And you _totally_ came to our first lecture," shot back Sakura. She adjusted her backpack on her shoulders, Ino walking beside her.

"Oh, c'mon, Sakura. I wouldn't blame you. He is hot," Ino winked, throwing her arm around the other girl's shoulder. "And I'll just get my notes from you," she added.

Sakura couldn't argue against that. If it had been another time in another place, she would have considered that possibility.

"Nothing happened, Ino. That asshole said I owed him a drink and made me pay for it." There was no mention of him walking to her dorm and seeing all of her underwear sprawled on her bed.

The girls entered a large open space in the medicine building. It was set up with several chairs, tables, and comfortable sofas that had more than once saved Sakura from going around campus like an insomniac. They sat down in one of the sofas, and Sakura realized that she had no notes to give to Ino because she was too concentrated in something else to pay attention in class.

Stupid. Fucking. New guy.

"Well, here he comes with Naruto," announced Ino, and was waving her hand before Sakura could stop her.

The blond young man noticed them and waved back. His backpack was probably empty, or filled with instant noodle cups, but he seemed excited to be back to class. The darker one beside him, Sakura noticed, looked like he wished to be anywhere but at Konoha U.

"Sakura-chan, Ino-chan, this is Uchiha Sasuke. Also known as the bastard Sakura wants to kill and my best friend," Naruto said and pointed at his friend with his thumb.

Sasuke did nothing except shrug his shoulders. He was acting as if they were not interesting enough to interact with and it slightly irritated Sakura. "Of course, you guys met him at the club the other day. He's quiet but don't worry, he's harmless!" Naruto laughed at his own joke and Ino giggled alongside, finding it somehow amusing.

Sasuke and Sakura, on the other hand, were too busy glaring at each other to find Naruto's joke funny.

"You're not on your bike today."

"But you're still an asshole. What great change," she replied, crossing her arms.

She wasn't going to give in to his insulting remarks, even though all of the female -and male- population was suddenly taking an interest in the man standing in front of her.

"Whatever," he said, turning around and getting ready to leave.

"Yeah, what_ever_," copied Sakura, getting up from her seat.

"Uh, where are you guys going?" asked Naruto, who had taken a seat beside Ino and was watching them interact. The two students directed their gaze at him at the same time and a sweat dropped from Naruto's temple.

"Library," both said at the same time.

Sakura glared at him. What the fuck was this Sasuke guy playing at?

After an awkward pause, Ino stood up and grabbed Naruto by the arm. "Have fun at the library! Let's go, Naruto. We need to get that important thing-

"What important thing?"

"That _thing."_

"I don't know what-

"Let's just go."

Ino dragged Naruto out of the common room by the arm while the blond man protested that he had no idea what she was talking about. Sakura was left alone with the insulting cube of ice, and made her own exit without acknowledging him. She was aware that they were headed the same direction but it would be nice knowing she was going to the library _alone._ Not _with_ him.

Sakura entered the old building. It was one of her preferred spots at Konoha U. Nothing compared to walking into an antiquated building that carried knowledge. She had spent too many nights at the library to not have formed a bond with it. Like many med students, she climbed up to the fifth floor and found a small reading table in the silent area. Setting down her bag and taking a seat, Sakura noticed that she wasn't the only new arrival.

Uchiha Sasuke was two tables away from hers, sitting down and opening a textbook. Sakura felt the nerve in her temple, thinking of how he could have the cheek to sit so close to her when she made herself clear that she didn't want anything to do with him.

That.

Bastard.

She needed to keep her head cool. Her book was already on the page she was supposed to start reading, so her eyes averted towards the text. It was an easy, introductory chapter to biology that outlined everything that was going to be learned in her class. Though it was a boring chapter, the idea of keeping her eyes glued to it was much more appealing than looking up at Sasuke.

By the time that Sakura had read the fifth paragraph three times, she lifted up her eyes for the split of a second and found that Sasuke was looking at her. He wasn't even being discreet about it. His eyes were piercing through her and it sent shivers down her spine.

Okay, act calm. Don't let him get under the skin.

Focus on the text.

Focus.

Focus...

"What the fuck are you on?" she asked loudly at him after catching him glance up at her.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" every student in the library appeared out of nowhere and silenced her.

Sakura got up and gathered her things, knowing that it had been a futile attempt at getting peace in the quietest place at Konoha U. She took the stairs down to the main floor, which was packed with newly arrived students wandering around the building, and exited the library's old wooden doors. The sky was still as blue as it had been in the morning, and Sakura thought how much she would have enjoyed her first day back if it wasn't because of _him._

Picking up her pace, and holding tightly to her backpack, she looked back to find Sasuke following her out of the library. He was walking with that demeanour she had quickly associated with him; hands in his pockets, arrogantly looking like he didn't care what was going on around him. She turned around and stopped dead on her tracks. Sasuke imitated her, standing right in front of her as students passed by them.

"Seriously, why are you following me around?" Sakura asked. She was starting to feel antsy under his gaze and squeezed her hands.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, oblivious to her discomfort.

"Then stop following me around!"

"Maybe it's _you_ the one who's following _me_ around."

He had to be fucking kidding.

"You-!

"I need help with biology. Naruto has mentioned that you're one of the best in your class."

Oh, so _now_ he was talking. How could it be so hard to ask for help without offending someone? Sakura wondered if he had been born with a thicker skull than most people. Perhaps he had never been exposed to any sort of social contact before coming to Konoha U. Uchiha Sasuke was not making it on her nice list.

"Be here tomorrow after your last class. I will wait for you at this same spot."

Before she could answer back, he had vanished amid the student body.

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><p>Sasuke already knew that there was someone in his new apartment before he went in his building's lobby. The place was much more luxurious than his old apartment in Otogakure, which had been far away from the upper-class neighbourhood but still of decent quality. This new apartment, he noticed when he first settled into its monochrome furnished walls, was strategically located on the other side of the city, far away from the block he once had called home and saw get destroyed with his own eyes.<p>

He didn't know if it had been a nice gesture from Orochimaru and Kabuto, or if someone else had gotten involved in finding him a new apartment in Konoha. Nevertheless, the bit of luxury he had access to always gave him a sense of power and the reward of the good paycheck he received at the end of every assignment.

The apartment was on the tenth floor, down a long corridor with carpeted floor, beige walls, and long dark wooden lamps. Sasuke had always appreciated good taste in housing decoration due to his mother's old fascination with making every room look as neat and beautiful as possible. Still, he thought, it didn't matter in the end as everything that Uchiha Mikoto had accomplished died with the flames. He was back to finally turn off those flames.

His apartment's door was unlocked, and Sasuke walked into an open living room that smelled of a herb he was quite familiar with. Sitting in his black leather sofa, with his legs propped up on the glass coffee table, was Suigetsu lighting up a pipe. The boy was not surprised at being caught by Sasuke in his apartment. Instead, he took a long inhale before releasing the smoke and speaking.

"Hey, you never told me that the snake gave you this nice place, you jerk."

Sasuke ignored his comment and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Suigetsu followed his every move with his droopy eyes, without leaving the sofa.

"I see you're still that talkative guy who never shuts up. Want a hit?" he offered, holding out his pipe and lighter.

Sasuke, once again, remained silent and paid attention to how Suigetsu's smoking had filled the air with a cloudy layer. He had been here for a couple of hours, and was probably too bored to idle around so he decided to smoke up. Typical Suigetsu, Sasuke thought. Ever since they met in Otogakure, Suigetsu had shown an addictive personality. Sasuke had been witness to the many times Suigetsu tried some of Orochimaru's "new stuff" as an test subject; the white haired young man hadn't minded it. He had been hooked on drugs from thirteen until twenty as one of the snake's subordinates. Sasuke had never approved of Suigetsu's addition, and his reliance on Orochimaru was one of the many reasons as to why he stopped trusting the snake.

Now, at twenty four years old, Suigetsu had given up on most of the strong drugs but still had a weak point for the green herb, and was now in charge of the drug administration and distribution of one of the largest underground networks in the continent.

They were all just a bunch of fucked-up kids, Suigetsu would say, referring to himself, Sasuke, Jūgo and Karin. They all had tragic stories, Naruto having known most of them from their early years with Orochimaru and Jiraiya's old allegiance. Now that he was out of that world he never really mentioned his former relationship with the other orphans and chose to look at the future with optimism.

"There's no point in asking," Sasuke said after Suigetsu took another hit. He moved back into the living room, took a seat on his black chaise and put his water on the coffee table. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I finally got a break from work after establishing more connections to the dudes here. I thought I'd visit my old friend, that's all." Sasuke glared at him. "Okay, alright. The snake sent you another package. He didn't say what it was about, but I think it's got to do with your new secret-whatever-shit-you-do."

Suigetsu took a small envelope out of his pants pocket and placed it on the coffee table. Then, he flashed a sided grin before taking Sasuke's water and gorging it all down. "Y'know, dry throat and everything. Old habits die hard and I haven't gotten high since we left Oto."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Suigetsu, knowing that his only response would be silence.

The white haired man sighed and placed his hands on the back of his head. "Look at us, Sasuke. Still fucked up as always. I still think Karin and Jūgo got it the worst. She's had such a miserable life. First, getting disowned from her family because of some fucked up shit she doesn't wanna talk about, then separated from her only loving relative Naruto, then left in Otogakure far away from all of us -including _you. _And Jūgo's anger management is only cured if he's using that drug Kabuto does. Our lives sucked from the moment we came outta our mothers. At least I still got my weed and you your revenge. I guess that after we're done with our addictions we'll live a normal live. But those two, they'll never get it as good as us. Miserable world it is. By the way, are you gonna open that envelope?"

Sasuke looked at the brown envelope on the coffee table. He paused for a moment before reaching it out and feeling it in his fingers. Opening information on his assignments in front of Suigetsu had never been a problem before. Both of them -Jūgo included- had things to keep quiet about, and had formed a silent agreement of not talking about what happens to others when they receive new information. If Suigetsu said anything that would slightly hint at his knowledge of Sasuke's work, the Uchiha would personally cut off one of his fingers and burn his marijuana plantation.

The envelop brought a letter handwritten by Kabuto. It was, as he predicted, more information on who Haruno Sakura was and why he was required to keep tabs on her. Sasuke never imagined that Orochimaru would do favours for someone else, but the mystery behind what the girl really meant was probably linked with the snake's future plans.

_Dear Sasuke-kun,_

_I ask you to become friends with Haruno Sakura and find out as much as you can about her. This assignment is not just babysitting, as you may think it is. In fact, she's a very special gem to me and my associates, and we'd like to get to know her as well as we can. My old friend Danzō is interested in her and has asked me to follow her steps. Don't get suspended at school, follow the rules, and study hard._

_Sincerely,_

_Orochimaru_

Sasuke would never trust the snake. Orochimaru may have given him the skills and funds he needed to reach his potential, but the underground lord was as macabre as any known villain to mankind. His secretive plans were the norm. Sasuke, always following his own code, would sometimes question his own involvement with Orochimaru, but then he'd think that there was no way of reaching Itachi and would have to compromise until his goal was reached.

Still... Danzō. That sounded like a name he'd heard before. He would have to look into it sooner than later. Tonight, he would have to deal with a passed out Suigetsu in his couch and the thoughts of how Haruno Sakura is somehow involved with the underground world of Konoha.

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><p><strong>Thank you for reviewing, adding this story to your favourites and follows! You know you make me really happy, right?<strong>

**Also, what do you think about the song suggestions at the beginning of the chapter? I usually add them because that is what I listen to when I need inspiration.**

**See you next week and don't forget to leave your comments! Free cookies to anyone who does :3**

**Sincerely,**

**MSM**


	4. Chapter 4

**I listened to 1901 by Phoenix (and the rest of their album) while editing this chapter. Enjoy!**

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><p><em>Kurayami.<em>

_Kurayami. How she hated that word. _

_It no longer gave her that funny ring in her tongue. _

_It only meant that darkness fell upon them and now there was no light in their lives._

_She sighed, and pressed her head against the damp wall. She felt tired; the disappointment in the turn of events had drained all of her optimism. She no longer saw the world as a place full of opportunities._

_No. The world only brought death. Death and darkness._

_Kurayami._

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><p><strong>CHAPTER FOUR<strong>

Keeping tabs on someone meant, basically, to follow them around and provide information to Orochimaru. To Sasuke, this was not an unfamiliar task; back in their old towns he had kept tabs in many important figures who owed the snake something. With his talented skill of hiding in the shadows, Sasuke never lost track of who he had to spy on. This time, however, the subject was not a corrupted public figure or a mob boss who concealed information. This time, it was more of what he simply called a babysitting task. Sakura was not a threat to Orochimaru's organization, nor to himself, but carried around a hidden past that Sasuke did not have an actual interest in finding out.

Babysitting, it was.

Although different from spying, Sasuke used a similar technique when it came to babysitting girls like Sakura. First, he would learn about their lifestyles and record all information about their daily routine. Things like where she spent most of her time, any extracurricular activities, and such would fall under the category of everyday life. Then, he would begin to focus on her past, including information on her family, education, and living history. Finally, Sasuke would try to get as close as possible in order to find out what the real mystery behind Sakura was. Once he got to that point, he would report Orochimaru and let him take care of things from now on, releasing Sasuke from his duty of following the Haruno around.

He was quite sure that this approach would work flawlessly in learning about Sakura. From outside eyes, she was just a simple, hard working med student who had fun with her friends from time to time. There were no hints of a dark past, nothing that would lead towards a similar characteristic that Sasuke had found in the people he had previously looked at. A part of him felt like this whole assignment would be a dead end and a waste of his time, as he had better things to take care of.

Itachi had not made a move in Konoha yet, but Sasuke knew that he was somewhere lurking in the shadows of the city.

Nevertheless, he was well aware that he could have refused this assignment. It was so simple that someone like Suigetsu might have completed it without problems. Still, Sakura seemed like such a normal person that the mystery behind her became all too confusing for Sasuke, and he had to dig deeper to know what was so important about her.

Sasuke continued thinking about Sakura as he completed simple tasks for Orochimaru that night. Killing the bills for the snake man had become a routine for him. He no longer thought about the faces he was taking life from; it was as if they had been objects from the beginning. Sasuke was aware of the damage these people had done to innocent families; the women they've raped; the children they had left parentless. If anything, he was ridding Konoha from its worst virus, just as he had done in Otogakure.

Justice was never served without spilling blood.

"N-no, no!" exclaimed a man, whose pants had been removed and was lying on the floor beside the corpse of a young man. "I was j-just having fun and he's dead anyway!"

"That's because you killed him before you felt like taking advantage," Sasuke said behind the black cloth that covered his mouth.

He sliced the man's throat as a loud cry filled the air in the alleyway. It was too dark and too late for anyone to notice what had happened. When the authorities find the two corpses the next day, they would somehow cover up the story. Sasuke imagined how they would announce that the young victim had, one way or another, killed his perpetrator before being fatally wounded.

Sasuke cringed at the thought of how the system worked in Konoha. It was a city that pretended that nothing bad happened, yet it ran with a system linked to criminal organizations and pure extortion. Politicians had committed more crimes than any prison cellmate, yet they were still in power. It was that type of person that eventually led his family to their deaths. Even from a young age, Itachi had always carried the same demeanour as many of those corrupted politicians; he would open his mouth when it was necessary, analyse his surroundings, take cautious steps until his next attack.

He wondered if Itachi's hands were as blood-stained as his.

Sasuke had been known as the Avenger in Otogakure, as Sharingan in Amegakure, and the list continued on and on. The legendary aliases that came with his profession in the other cities had kept his true identity from being revealed to the world. However, in Konoha, he had purposely returned to his original name for 'educational purposes' and fortunately not many people remembered the Uchiha family to put two and two together. Besides, he was not as social a person for his name to spread around the city.

If his name got to Itachi's ears, Sasuke was sure that he would find a sign that told him it was time to attack.

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><p>The next day, as Sakura sat down on the curb near the library entrance, she wondered how Sasuke had found out about her school schedule. She hadn't really told anybody about it, other than Ino, of course. Perhaps she mentioned it to Naruto and he to Sasuke. That was the only possibility, other than the arrogant bastard following her around like a stalker.<p>

Not like he hadn't done that before anyway.

But here she was, sitting, waiting for him. She felt a little silly, as if a part of her thought that Sasuke wasn't going to show up. It was already five o'clock and she had to get dinner soon before the cafeteria closed. Her stomach rumbled and she tried to quieten it so that passing students wouldn't hear her hunger. Perhaps if she sneaked off to the closest vending machine and got something before Sasuke arrived...

"Why are you sitting there?"

Sakura looked up, and found Sasuke staring down as she hugged her stomach. He raised an eyebrow but she dismissed it with a wave of her hand. If their study session was going to be an hour or less, food could wait.

"I was waiting for you, obviously," she answered.

"Get up and let's go study."

But it was _only_ the second day of class!

Yet, some of their professors thought it was a good idea to have weekly assignments so that students could feel on the edge every day of the week. No sleep for the wicked and restless, it seemed.

Sakura followed the boy into the library, and they both sat down in a study room with a white walls and a chalk board. She settled her backpack on the table, took a seat, and took out all of her materials. Her laptop was still sitting in her dorm room, thinking that she didn't need it for today.

"All right, let's start."

She began with the basics of genetics. Sasuke listened to her, taking notes to whatever he didn't understand without saying a word. Sakura just continued talking, noticing that although Sasuke kept quiet he only wrote things down when he needed to remember something. She recited everything she had learned in the past two years about genetics; ranging from recessive to dominant alleles to the way DNA encoded genetic constructions.

Sakura always enjoyed talking about her knowledge of the human body and its systems. Nothing amused her more than finding out little details about her physical self, imagining how she was going to help out patients in a few more years.

"So this is all basic information to me. Question is, why is it that you don't know about it already?" she asked, interrupting the flow of her lecture.

Sasuke stopped writing mid-sentence and looked up from his notebooks. Once again, he raised an eyebrow at her.

"I just transferred here. We did things differently at my old university," he explained. Sakura wasn't going to buy that bullshit excuse. It was nearly impossible for someone to get to third year of medical studies and not know such basic information about the human body.

"And what university was that?" she readjusted her position on the chair, bringing up her knees and wrapping her arms around her legs.

It was _only_ the second day after all. Their study session did not necessarily have to involve burying their heads in a textbook. There was no need to get too serious yet.

Sasuke took a moment before answering her, as if he was wondering why she was starting the small talk with him.

"Why does it concern you?" he finally questioned, crossing his arms in front of his chest with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, first of all, you almost kill me-"

"You almost scratched my car."

"-then you make me pay for your drink-"

"You owed me."

"-make me be your study buddy, and now I can't ask my own questions? Like how you found out about my school schedule?"

"Naruto," Sasuke answered simply.

"Fair enough. How about your old school?"

"It was in Otogakure."

Ah. Different city in a different country. Sakura vaguely remembered passing by there as a child with Tsunade, but their stay had not been long enough for her to have vivid memories. Perhaps Oto's university did not have the same standards as Konoha U and that was why Sasuke needed to review material. But she still wasn't buying his bullshit.

"It still doesn't justify-"

"I just need to refresh my mind, okay?"

The tapping of his pen on the desk was a sign that the conversation was closed.

Sakura took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. This was going to be an interesting study session if it kept happening. She pinched the bridge of her nose, and checked the time in her watch as her stomach rumbles were the only sound filling the room.

"Oh shit, the cafeteria closed!" she whined.

She was definitely not going to get dinner tonight. It was a given. So much for helping out the asshole who's only been rude to her, and now she would go home with an empty stomach, thinking about salmon hand rolls dipped in soy sauce. Maybe she would find something in the vending machine, but it was already close to seven thirty and she didn't feel like making the effort of getting coins for a single snack bar.

"I'll buy you dinner."

Before Sakura could register the words that came from Sasuke, he had already stood up, gathered his things, and headed towards the door. It was her time to raise an eyebrow, wondering how someone could move so fast. Perhaps she was too busy thinking about a miserable snack bar to realize that he was waiting for her at the door. She quickly gathered her things, half of her mind wondering if she'd heard him right.

She wasn't going to make a fuss about it. He was still the same asshole as five minutes ago, so his act of chivalry wouldn't outweigh his previous actions. Nevertheless, Sakura still went through the door that he held open for her, and nervously fiddled with her fingers as they made their way out of the library. It was still early, and it was a shame that her favourite cafeteria closed so early. She would have to settle for something bought by Uchiha Sasuke. What a total shame.

Sasuke didn't utter a word while they walked across the parking lot. She thought that maybe he assumed she was going to follow him. After hearing the beeping sound coming from a car, Sakura realized that he had parked his sports car not too far away from where they were standing. Sinking it all in her mind, she tried to make small talk about what kind of food they would get but Sasuke interrupted her thoughts.

"Get in," he said before sitting down in the drivers seat.

Sakura, feeling a little intimidated by the overwhelming luxury that radiated from the car, was as careful as she could while sitting down in the passenger seat. She put on her seat belt, and Sasuke took off. He didn't have his radio on, the only sound breaking the awkward silence was the soft rumbling of the engine. Oh, and her loud stomach noises.

She began to wonder what kind of person he truly was. If he was rich enough to own a car like this one, then he probably came from a good foreign family. He didn't seem like the kind of person who would work, either. It all probably came from his parents' money.

Still, in all of her years of traveling across the nations, she had never heard of the Uchiha last name. Maybe he was a student that came from a different continent, though he did not have an accent when he spoke. Sakura thought about looking him up on her web browser, but dismissed it at the reallization that somebody with enough financial means could track her IP address down and find out that she was stalking him.

Her body shivered at the imaginary scene of Sasuke confronting her about her search history.

"Um..." Sakura knew better than to compliment on the comfort of his car seat no matter how comfortable it was. "What do you want to eat?" she asked shyly.

Sasuke had already exited the main entrance to Konoha U. He was cruising around the area surrounding their campus, an area that Sakura knew all too well. There were many small shops set up along the street, mostly owned by family businesses.

And he still didn't say a single word.

"There's this great place where we can get grilled fish on a stick. My friend Hinata swears by it. It's right around the corner." Sakura pointed to her right, and Sasuke obeyed.

At least he was still listening to her. It was only a small street food truck, but Sakura was not thinking about the quality of the food she'd be eating. She was too hungry to be picky at this moment. After he'd side parked near the food truck, he instructed her to stay in while he was off to get them grilled fish. Sakura could not get but feel awkward sitting in his car alone, paying attention to how everything was jet black. She felt like feeling every different texture of the car under her fingers, but Sasuke had come back before she even got the chance.

He sat back in his car and handed her two fish sticks, then drove them back to campus and parked near the gondola that Sakura liked.

When Sakura was ready to take her fish stick out of the paper bag, Sasuke placed a hand over hers surprising her.

"No food in the car." He got out of the car and walked a few steps.

Still feeling the electricity that came from his touch on her hand, Sakura imitated him and got out. House rules were house rules, even if they were for an expensive looking car. Sasuke took a seat on the curb near the gondola, and Sakura timidly sat beside him as they both ate in silence. Her stomach received the food with much delight, and she might have eaten a bit faster than usual.

Sasuke did not utter a single word while eating his own fish stick. Was he used to talking to other people? He never really seemed like a sociable person, and Sakura wondered how he could pursue a medical career if he didn't connect with people. As a matter of fact, she wondered how Sasuke could stand hanging around someone as loud as Naruto.

"So..." she began again, elongating the word to cover up the silence. She'd realized that she had never hung out with someone with so little talk between them. "Thank you for the food. You really didn't have to."

"Your stomach was too loud," Sasuke stated, taking another bite of his food.

"What-!"

"And we will have study sessions once a week to go over the material."

Well, there went his chivalry. She always knew she shouldn't keep her hopes up around a person like Sasuke.

"O-Okay."

And with that, Sakura had settled a deal with Sasuke. Study group once a week wasn't so bad; when she was in the Sand Country she would have them every other day, so this was a definitely easier task. Once again, he drove off silently until he reached the entrance of her dorm building. Sakura got out of the car, thanked him again, and went up to her room.

Maybe he just didn't know how to behave around normal people, she wondered. Sasuke was definitely a hard person to break, but as long as they remained study partners and nothing more then she could begin to appreciate the silence.

Maybe she would get used to him around her as more than a hindrance.

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><p>There was something about Sakura that threw him off.<p>

Sasuke has spent a lot of time around people who were trying to hide their origins. They would always show a slight twitch, or a sort of nervous laugh, whenever they were put in a compromised situation. In spite of his forward manner in establishing a form of relationship with her, Sakura hadn't shown any sign of knowing the mystery that came with her. Sasuke was not even sure what it was himself, but with her normal demeanour of a college student, he could easily deduce that she had been kept in the dark about certain things in her life.

If Orochimaru would not give him any more additional information about who Sakura was, then Sasuke would have to find it himself. He thought about using the database that the snake had built over the years, but then Sasuke's plan would be revealed and he could not risk Orochimaru knowing about his slight curiosity.

After dropping Sakura off at her university residence, Sasuke drove off to an empty parking lot and sat in his car to think. His mind was filled with the name Danzō; it sounded like something he'd heard before. Perhaps he was an old colleague of Orochimaru's during his early years in Konoha, or someone he'd met in a different city. Still, this Danzō was somehow involved with Sakura and wanted to know about her. He could not guess for whatever reason that was, and it would only take him time until he got close enough to Haruno Sakura to know about her.

Sasuke would just have to begin asking questions. He hated asking questions; he never liked showing interest in other people. Getting close to them always brought pain. His family left him. Naruto left him (until he came back to his life not too long ago). Sakura, on the other hand, was just an assignment. If he considered her a test subject in his mind while interacting with her, then the risk of getting close to her and then suffering from the consequences would diminish. It wouldn't be difficult for him to do that.

The katana hidden in the back of his car reminded him of his detachment from the normal world with emotions.

His cellphone rang. It was Jūgo.

"Sasuke, Orochimaru wants you to take care of a quick errand. I'll send you the directions."

"Got it."

His life would never fit in with what normal people did. Being normal had been thrown out the window a long time ago.

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><p><strong>A little shorter but it is a start to how they will interact with each other! Thank you for all the 41 follows and 30 favourites :D Now if only we could get the review count up...<strong>

**Have a great Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it! The next update will probably be on Tuesday or Wednesday. It all depends on how much I can get done this weekend.**

**Sincerely,**

**MSM**


	5. Chapter 5

_Fire went ablaze._

_Screams of several voices filled his ears._

_The taste of ash entered his mouth as he got closer to the burning house._

_That house had once meant the world to him. And now it had been taken from him without reason._

_Why... why... why..._

_"Otousan... Okasan..." he could barely hear the sound of his young voice, as it was covered by the intense fire and smoke._

_He still went in the house. He needed to make sure that everyone was safe though the screams coming from inside told him otherwise. As he ran down the corridor of what had once been the main floor of his house, he began to notice several corpses lying on the floor getting eaten away by the flames._

_The fresh smell of burning skin conquered his senses._

_His eyes filled with tears due to his shock and the smoke taking over everything he set sight on. He couldn't believe it. There they were, his dead relatives. His aunts, uncles, cousins of all ages. All consumed by the fire and with only one witness holding the memory of their lives in this world._

_He continued running through his house. It had once been a sight to behold; an ancient relic in the middle of the city that carried a history of generations of important figures. He had never understood what was so special about his family to other people. To him, they were the example of how everyone should behave, but nobody knew his family like he did._

_He began to call for his parents. They had to be alive. He needed to tell them that the rest of their family wasn't._

_"OTOUSAN! OKASAN! WHERE ARE YOU!?"_

_His heart rate increased significantly while he sprinted from one room to another. On more than one occasion, several pieces of the ceiling almost fell on him. The flames did not stop. Nobody was coming to help him, he realized after what felt like an eternity in the burning labyrinth that had once been his home._

_The last part of his house, where the bedrooms were located, had not been severely affected by the flames yet. His hopes lifted at the thought that maybe his parents were stuck in the back and needed help getting out. He was sure that they would be fine, tucked in a corner in their bedroom, waiting for him to arrive and take them out of their burning house. He couldn't let desperation take control of his actions._

_Tears began to fall from his eyes as he tried to hold back his emotions. He needed to see his mom and dad, needed to feel safe in their arms. He couldn't even remember the last time his mother had tucked him into bed and kissed his forehead goodnight. He needed to feel her love and protection once again. He needed to know his dad would one day feel proud of him._

_"Please, be safe. I beg you, please..." he told himself._

_But the moment he opened the door that led to their bedroom, he knew that all hopes had departed the moment he had seen his house covered in flames._

_There they were, sprawled on the floor under a pool of blood. He couldn't see their faces, but the image imprinted on his brain for the rest of his life. His father's arm was around his mother's waist, and both corpses laid on their stomachs. He couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing. It was as if the flames in the background had become silent, and that his heartbeat was the only sound filling the empty room. With every beat, his sight vibrated and the smoke cleared from his view._

_And there he saw him._

_It was impossible, yet the evidence was right in front of him._

_He was standing behind his parents, holding a blood-covered knife. They made eye contact for a second, and it was enough to know what had taken place in that room._

_He had killed their parents._

_He was responsible for the fire._

_Shock was followed by the anger that boiled his blood. He was going to kill him. He was going to avenge his family and rid of the scum that had taken everything he once cared about! He remembered lunging forward, ready to attack the killer of his parents. His hands went forward, ready to grab for a neck that belonged to a person too tall for him to reach. He didn't care about their height difference, or that he was about to attack his oldest brother._

_All he thought about at that moment was that Itachi deserved to die. He deserved to rot in the same flames that consumed the love he once felt for their family._

_But a slight tap in the back of his head knocked him out. And everything went black after that, masking his anger and sadness; his loss; his trauma..._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER FIVE<strong>

Sasuke woke up with his body covered in cold-sweat.

It was one of the many reasons as to why he did not like to sleep for many hours at a time. His mind would wander into the forbidden section that always brought back that night. He was panting, as it always happened when he dreamed about the night his parents died. His hands were shaking, reminding him of the urge he had to choke Itachi to death. He could feel the salty taste of tears, which had fallen from his eyes much like it had when he realized his parents had been brutally murdered.

He still didn't know why it had happened. It was one of the many mysteries he wished he could decipher; why would someone, who had led a life as normal as Itachi, decide to turn against their family and kill them all in cold blood at such a young age? His parents had been nothing but good to their children. He could still remember the warmth of his father's embrace after coming home from school with good marks, or the stern voice his mother adopted when he did not clean his room before bedtime.

There. He was doing it again. He was letting himself fall down to memories of times that brought too much pain.

Sasuke looked around to find a distraction. It was quite difficult when everything he had in his spacious bedroom was his bed and night table. No television. No decorations. He saw no point in trying to make the apartment look like a home; his real home did not exist anymore. He turned his eyes towards his window, which like in the rest of his apartment, when from ceiling to floor. He got out of his bed and went to open the curtains, revealing the sunrise behind Konoha's skyline. Sasuke hoped the picture window was enough of a distraction to clear his mind.

He often wondered if his parents would have approved of him living in a place like this. Luxury had been part of their lives, but Uchiha Fugaku and Mikoto had always preferred simplicity. Their house had been very traditional, a complete opposite to the modern and cold appearance of Sasuke's current living arrangements. He imagined his mother reprimanding him for his lack of taste, and his father helping him out in building the furniture.

Whenever he thought about them, he preferred to include scenes where Itachi was not present. A scenario where his only brother had never existed or worked out of town were always welcome in Sasuke's mind. It somehow brought him back to normalcy, to imagine that in a different world he might have been an only son with two loving -and living- parents. However, thinking about the dead never helped the living.

He sat on his knees as he stared out his window. The sweat in his scarred body had been mostly dried off at this point, and the cool air was giving him goosebumps on his shirtless torso. He welcomed the chill, though, thinking that it would keep him up and away from falling asleep once again. He had gotten used to the lack of sleep; with Orochimaru's arduous training during his adolescent years he had learned to run on less than an hour of sleep. He knew it was necessary to keep his body at its peak, and the last thing he would want is to face Itachi with sleep-deprived reflexes.

But closing his eyes was his least favourite activity. He could embrace darkness while he was awake, but sleeping surrounded by the same darkness had a different, suffering effect on him.

Even at twenty years old, he still wished that his mother was around to cover him up in a blanket and tell him that everything was going to be okay.

* * *

><p>Sakura realized that daylight was already breaking in Konoha as she exited the hospital. Staying overnight was the only option she had left when it came to volunteering. Her habit of helping out patients would never leave her; she was too used to being around sick people to know what it felt like not to give back to the community. No matter what differences they had, her aunt Tsunade made sure that she would always be grateful for what she had.<p>

She yawned deeply, stretching her arms out and then waved goodbye at a couple of nurses who were smoking on their breaks. As a med student, she outright opposed the activity of smoking due to the damages it brought to the body. It was common knowledge that smoking was a dying habit, yet many could not let go of the urge to have a cigarette in their mouths. However, as a human being, Sakura understood the stress that nurses went through everyday and how one of their only outlets was to inhale the addictive tobacco. Twelve hour shifts took a toll on their bodies, but Sakura was ready to fully enter the world of the hospital no matter how strenuous it was.

Her bike was still parked on the bike rack. She unlocked it, got on, and left the hospital premises. Luckily, her classes did not start until the afternoon today and it gave her enough time to sleep for a couple of hours. The hospital was not too far away from Konoha U, as it was linked to the university network, hence facilitating her opportunity to volunteer there. As she biked the distance between the hospital and her residence, Sakura recalled all the people she got to help tonight. There had been a child who had been hospitalized after his sugar levels were found to be low; an elder man who had just had a hip surgery; a set of twins whose chicken pox had gotten so bad that the doctor decided to keep them in the hospital for one night. Her patients' conditions were not severe, as only the employed were permitted to attend to those, and Sakura was grateful enough to be able to give them something to eat or keep them company.

The streets were still bare at this time in the morning. Traffic always started to hit at around 8:30 and it was only 5:15. She passed by a couple of food stands and felt her stomach rumble. The only thing she had to eat at the hospital had been a couple of water crackers and a cup of tea; her body was craving actual food. Debating between holding it up until she got to Konoha U or enjoying a real breakfast for a cheap price, she chose for the latter option.

Before Sakura knew what she was doing, though, her phone was dialing up Sasuke's number. She surprised herself at her innate instinct of calling him at terrible hours, which had been something she developed after the several times they needed to arrange a study session.

"Yes?"

And it always surprised her that he never missed any of her calls.

"Oh-hi, Sasuke-kun! Um, I was wondering if you wanted to grab breakfast. I just left the hospital so-"

"It's five in the morning."

Sakura's heart dropped, suddenly feeling bad for waking him up at such an early hour. She didn't know what he had been up to last night. He could very well be too tired -and now annoyed at her- to go out.

"I know, I'm sorry. Forget about it. I'll see you in class."

She was about to hang up when she heard his voice on the other line. "I'll meet you at Ichiraku's in fifteen minutes."

And before she could reply, he hung up on her. Sakura stared at her cellphone, wondering if what had just happen was reality. Her curiosity couldn't hold back as she wondered what Sasuke was up to at such an early hour. At least _she_ had a real excuse to be up all night. Her volunteer work could only take place once a week and it was during an overnight shift. As far as she knew, Sasuke was not involved in any extracurricular activities and chose to spend his day doing who-knows-what.

Ichiraku's wasn't too far away from where she was. She arrived there in less than ten minutes, parked her bicycle, and sat down in one of the stools that faced the open kitchen. The place mainly specialized in ramen, but its status as a 24/7 food source had pushed them to include a breakfast menu for students who usually looked for a bite after a night of partying. It was Naruto's go-to place for pretty much everything, as well as Sakura's saviour whenever she needed to indulge in treats that were not found at Konoha U's eateries.

Sasuke arrived with a punctuality that she would often find creepy.

Sakura checked the clock hanging on the wall, which confirmed that her study partner had in fact arrived in exactly fifteen minutes. Without making a sign of acknowledgement, he sat beside of her and remained silent, with his elbows propped up on the table and his hands under his chin. Sakura noticed the dark circles that were forming under his eyes and the lost expression on his face. Did he have trouble sleeping? Is that why he was awake at this hour?

"What're you gonna get?" she asked him, trying to sound as casual as possible. It wasn't often that she ate accompanied by someone at such an early hour.

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders before replying, "I'll have whatever you're having."

"You're not hungry?"

"No."

"Then why did you decide to come out?"

"I was awake and had nothing better to do," he replied.

End of conversation.

Sakura paused for a moment, feeling a little disappointed at the fact that he was here with her because he 'had nothing better to do.' It would have been much nicer if he had given her a different answer, but she couldn't be particular with what came out of Sasuke's mouth. An answer was always better than his usual silence, she told herself.

She had been seeing Sasuke at least once a week for quite a while now, and had to confess that he was no longer a hindrance in her presence. In fact, she often caught herself looking at his features for a prolonged amount of time and always averted her eyes before her cheeks glowed red. The young man sitting beside her may have come off as a huge jerk at first, but he was a bearable human being in both his personality and physical appearance. Sakura would always linger her eyes on his sharp facial features, and how well they combined with his spiky hair, before focusing on the hints of a well-defined body underneath his clothes.

Sakura could never keep her eyes way from his arms. They were fit, and whenever she had a chance of seeing him wear nothing but a long-sleeve shirt she would stare at them for an unhealthy amount of time. He was taller than her; her forehead reached to the tip of his sharp nose. His almond shaped eyes, dark as night, always seemed to look through her and she would feel naked under his gaze. Sasuke's black hair would stand up in every direction. Sakura had thought about running her hands through it more than once and then wonder whether he would notice that she had touched his already messy hair.

She could no longer deny it. Haruno Sakura was becoming physically attracted to the jerk who almost hit her with his expensive sports car.

They ate in silence. Sakura did not hesitate in finishing her simple rice and miso soup. She was so hungry that she did not realize how fast she was eating until the plates in front of her were empty. After the owner of Ichiraku's took her empty plates, Sakura turned to Sasuke and found him nibbling on his food without much appetite. Once again, she felt bad for asking him to accompany her when he wasn't even that enthusiastic about it.

"You didn't have to come, you know," she commented.

"Like I said, I had nothing better to do. I wanted to ask you about the midterm we're having next Tuesday anyway."

And with that, Sakura felt that Sasuke was blocking himself up with a set of walls that wouldn't let anybody in. She was quite aware of his distant personality at times. It hindered him from making more friends at school, although the student body attracted to men had noticed his good looks the moment he had set foot at Konoha U. Sakura always caught several students -and professors- holding their eyes on Sasuke as they passed by. She thought about how they would wonder why someone like him would to hang out with someone like her, but then she realized that they were all empty opinions.

Nothing more than a platonic acquaintance existed between the two. There was nothing else to worry about. That was what she told herself every minute.

Ino would still tease her about wanting to do more than study with Sasuke. Sakura had to confess that she had thought more than once about it. After all, they were usually stuck in the library until very late hours. Just the two of them, in an isolated study room, with the chance of turning off the light and doing anything possible without getting interrupted. She'd get to run her hands through his hair, his arms, his back, his-

"Sakura."

His deep voice brought her back to reality, and Sakura had noticed that her stool was no longer facing the table but had fully turned to towards his direction. She felt a warm sensation build in her cheeks and belly and had found herself checking out her companion without holding back.

"Oh, I'm s-sorry, Sasuke!" she waved her hands in front of her face, trying to distract herself from the inappropriate thoughts that kept coming to her mind. "I'm just really tired. You were saying?"

"Why are you up so early?"

He still hadn't finished his food. The restaurant owner did not seem to mind them staying for so long. They were the only customers.

"I volunteer at the hospital once a week for an overnight shift. I'm used to being around hospital and patients and that was the only time I found I could. I mean, we have class in the afternoon so it's not that bad. I'll go home and sleep some more."

She always caught herself explaining more than she needed to. Maybe because she liked talking to him, or maybe because he barely opened his mouth and somebody had to fill in the silence.

"Ah. I see."

There was another awkward pause in which Sasuke was close to finishing his food.

"So what did you want to ask me about the midterm?" she ventured, fiddling with her fingers.

Sasuke took a last bite of his meal before setting the plates up so they could be taken away, "I forgot. I'll ask you next time."

Sometimes she wondered why he was in a program that required so much commitment if he was so distracted.

He reached out for his wallet but Sakura put a hand on his arm. She couldn't help but notice how hard it felt under her touch and the warm sensation came back to her, "Don't worry about it. I'll treat you this time."

She averted her eyes from Sasuke and put the exact amount of money on the table. Still without looking at him, she took all of her stuff and went out of the restaurant. It was only seven in the morning, meaning that traffic would pick up soon and she had less hours to sleep now. She sighed and walked towards her bike, ready to unlock it.

"I see that you still use that puny thing," she heard from behind. Sasuke was leaning on the restaurant door, his arms crossed and a smug look on his face. It felt as if he was ignoring his sleepless state and still had enough energy to taunt her.

"I treat you for food and you get to make fun of me? That's not how it works," Sakura shot back half-jokingly. A small part of her was still offended at his insults towards her environmentally-friendly form of transportation.

Once she unlocked her bike, she was ready to hop on, say goodbye, and head off to her residence. However, before she could to any of that she felt Sasuke take a hold of her bike, preventing her from riding it.

"I'll drop you off."

"But-

"You should see yourself." (She could offer him that same advice). "Do you think that it is be safe to get home like this after volunteering all night long?" Sasuke was already taking her bike towards his car. He opened the trunk and place her bicycle in there, giving Sakura a better look at how his back muscles flexed when he lifted it up and put it down. Sakura had to admit defeat, knowing that she there was no point in insisting to go on her own now.

"Perhaps you should do the same," she said. "Those dark circles aren't getting any lighter." There. She said it.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows at her comment, but did not reply back. Instead, he closed the trunk of his car and got in the drivers seat. It had been a common thing between them, to drive around looking for another place to eat after a study session. Sakura felt like the passenger seat was permanently shaped to her figure due to the countless times she had sat in there.

Konoha U was only five minutes away by car. If she had biked, it would have taken her at least twenty. It only meant that now she could have fifteen more minutes of sleep before going to class, and she would treasure every second of it. As Sasuke pulled up in front of her residence building, Sakura thought about how much he needed sleep a felt compelled to make another comment about his deprived state.

"Thank you again, Sasuke. I was really hungry and now I'm really sleepy, so I'm grateful that today I don't have to do it alone," she smiled at him showing her gratitude, but then she paid attention to what actually came out of her mouth and her facial expression turned to one of shock. "I-I mean, thank you for having breakfast with me! Hopefully you get to eat me -to eat _with_ me- _I mean_, we get to eat together some other time!"

* * *

><p>Sasuke did not say anything as she got out of his car and ran inside the building. He was so tired that he did not catch on to what she had actually said until she was already out of his sight. He blinked a couple of times, replaying her last words in his mind as he took in their meaning and felt that his chest tightened a little. He was ready to take off until he noticed that she had left her bicycle in his trunk and her bag behind.<p>

He knew that he had to take it when an opportunity like this one came around. Swiftly, and before Sakura could realise what she had left behind, he looked around before grabbing her bag. He opened it and the first thing he found was her cell phone.

Perfect.

Sasuke took the pink case out of Sakura's cellphone, opened the lid that covered the battery, and inserted a small chip into the memory card slot. He was grateful that Haruno did not keep a memory card in her phone; it made his job easier. With the chip installed, he would be able to track her every move and phone conversation. He ought to get something out of it, or at least know where she spent her time when they weren't together.

Then, Sasuke sat in his car for another four minutes to see if Sakura would have noticed that she was missing something. After realising that she was not going to come down, and that he was going to save her the embarrassment of going upstairs to return her stuff, he ignited his car and drove back to his apartment. He would give her back her stuff another time.

His job would only become easier from this point onward. Sakura would not even notice that he was learning more and more about her without needing to talk in person.

* * *

><p><em>Hohoho. So bear with me, this chapter is supposed to build up, give more information, and show how Sasuke and Sakura have developed their acquaintance? Friendship? Physical attraction? It'll get to the point we want to read in a couple more chapters ;)<em>

_Thank you to all those who have added this story to their favourites and follows! Mainly, I'd like to thank the reviewers though there aren't many out there *sad face* Next chapter will be out in 4 to 5 days. I just need to write a bit more until I get to the interesting bits. _

_What do you think of the story so far? Slow? Boring? Blah?_

_Sincerely,_

_MSM_


	6. Chapter 6

**I think that "No Church in the Wild" by Kanye West and Jay-Z, feat. Frank Ocean fits well with the last part.**

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_Sometimes, she thought, things just took a different turn and there was nothing she could do about it._

_He was a fallacy in her existence._

_She loved it nonetheless._

_A year ago, though, she would have said the opposite. That he was a jerk, an arrogant human being. But he had proved otherwise. He could be compassionate and extremely loyal. He was that blanket of protection she had been looking for._

_And he had helped her find the truth of her unanswered questions._

_For that, she owed him her life._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER SIX<strong>

Spending at least one night a week studying with Sasuke had become a normal part of Sakura's schedule.

She noted how smart the guy was in spite of being a jerk sometimes. He would often answer her before she even finished the question. Their study sessions, which ranged from herbal medicine to chemical equations, always ended at around nine or ten o'clock. Then, Sasuke would walk her back to her residence building and then he would take off. After three weeks of the same routine, their mutual friends had begun to notice the change in the atmosphere between the two.

Sakura had to admit that she was no longer annoyed by Sasuke's presence around her. And she was quite sure that he reciprocated that statement by his willingness to hang out with her outside of their usual study sessions.

"Just say it, Sakura. I know that you're hooking up with him."

Ino, on the other hand, thought differently.

"Pig, that's not true. You know I'm not like that."

"But once upon a time you were," replied her friend.

"Look who's talking."

"Ne, so you're saying that Sasuke is tryna get in her pants, Ino?" Naruto asked, joining in their conversation.

They were sitting around a table at the university's cafeteria, enjoying a meal before heading back to class. Sakura felt her cheeks redden at Naruto's question. She did not know why it would affect her so much; she and Sasuke were just study partners. Besides, if he was interested in any girl it wouldn't be her. She didn't even treat him nicely to begin with.

Still, Naruto's curious expression had to be answered.

"No, Naruto. He's not trying to hook up with me and I am not trying to hook up with him. So let's just drop the subject."

She picked up her things and left the cafeteria, feeling that her friends were getting all the wrong ideas from her acquaintance with one of the hottest men she's met in her life.

* * *

><p>Sometimes, Naruto was really obvious.<p>

This was one of those times.

Sasuke knew that his old friend was waiting for him in an isolated building at Konoha U. If Naruto wanted to talk about something that was not serious then he would not have asked to meet there. He spotted two students running back to the more populated part of campus as the clouds darkened. It's been a month since classes started and the weather was already changing seasons.

Naruto was leaning against the building, with his hands in his pockets, tapping his foot nervously while waiting. Sasuke, quiet as ever, observed his friend's position. The blond definitely had something important to talk about. Sasuke had only seen that same nervous tap when Naruto was either concerned about something or when he had to reveal news he was dreading.

He faintly remembered that time when they had been separated after Naruto had left the hidden world of organized crime with Jiraiya.

"Yo, teme!"

Sasuke didn't answer, but rather saw how Naruto's body language changed at his arrival. The blond was no longer leaning against the wall; his fists were clenching; he was trying to calm down his breathing; the nickname he'd used was only mentioned when he was too nervous to say his real name.

"Dobe."

Sometimes, it was too easy to manipulate Naruto. And to let him stir up emotions in Sasuke.

"What's with you hanging 'round Sakura-chan?" asked his friend, walking forward.

It was Sasuke's turn to put his hands in his pockets. He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. He knew how much it bothered Naruto when he pretended to be the smarter one of the two. There were many things that Sasuke had learned along with Naruto and without him.

"Does it concern you?" Sasuke countered, keeping his voice leveled.

He could see the air coming in and out of Naruto's nose. The blond was trying really hard to keep his composure.

"No, it doesn't, but you better not bring your shit to her. She's just a normal girl, so don't bring her into your world."

His threats were empty.

Sasuke chuckled. Naruto had no idea about his assignment with Sakura. In fact, Sasuke didn't even know what the true purpose of keeping tabs on the girl was; he was only following orders. Naruto knew of Sasuke's real profession, of the countless legends that followed his reputation. It was only natural for the dobe to worry about the people who surrounded Sasuke. He's been the only person who has gotten close enough for Sasuke not to push away.

Still, there was a mystery behind Sakura that he wanted to uncover. If she was so interesting to Orochimaru and whoever Danzo was, then she had an important role in the world he belonged in. However, so far, he had only met an ordinary, hardworking university student who did not know any signs of a hidden past or a secret kept from the world.

He would only have to dig deeper, then.

"Don't worry, dobe. I am just making friends."

Naruto's hands were on his shirt in a flash. Their faces were close enough for Sasuke to see all the facial lines in his friend's threatening expression. He knew he was provoking, but an overemotional Naruto was much better than a Naruto who was too far away for him to contact. They'd been separated for too long.

"Listen to me, Uchiha Sasuke. I know we have our differences and you know that they won't tear us apart. But if Orochimaru has _anything_ with you trying to play normal kid with Sakura-chan -or anyone else- then I will not hesitate to attack you."

After a moment of silence, Sasuke pulled Naruto off of him and straightened his shirt. He didn't break eye contact for a single second.

"You know the only reason why I'm back in this shit hole," Sasuke began. "If you think otherwise, then _try_ to attack me. I dare you. Whatever I do with whoever does not concern you."

"Then leave Sakura-chan alone."

"It does _not_ concern you." Sasuke's tone was threatening.

He turned around and left his one and only friend standing alone. Sasuke realized that his jaw was still tense, and tried to relax his posture as he entered Konoha U's gymnasium. If Naruto was already imagining of his involvement in Sakura's life, then he had to play it safe. Bringing up his revenge on Itachi had seemed to reassure his friend that there were no intentions associated with Orochimaru. He needed to keep it that way.

Sasuke blinked after he went in the locker room. He noticed he hadn't blinked since he kept eye contact with Naruto.

* * *

><p>After finishing up their study session, Sasuke and Sakura exited the library building and found themselves in need of an umbrella.<p>

"Shit," she muttered under her breath, grabbing the student newspaper from a stand and placing it on top of her head.

It was already ten o'clock, and it had been one of their longest and densest study sessions. Sakura noticed that the library was already empty, except for its staff, when they decided to finish up that night. The sky, although it dark, was covered in thick clouds preventing any stars from appearing in Konoha. She looked around and found that, indeed, she and Sasuke were the only two people standing outside in the rain.

It might have been a good idea to check the weather before embarking on such a long exam preparation. She glanced over at Sasuke, who was simply looking at the rain without much concern for getting wet, and thought whether he was going to walk her home as his usual ritual or would leave her to her own devices. It wasn't that she couldn't walk to her dorm by herself -in fact, before he came around she was perfectly happy walking around campus unaccompanied-, but she had grown accustomed to Sasuke being the last person she saw before heading up to her room.

Puddles were already formed in the potholes on the streets, reflecting the lampposts that lit up Konoha U at night. The raindrops were interrupting their serenity, and the faint sound of thunder was heard in the distance. She was not going to stand around for much longer; the rain was not going to stop and she felt too tired to worry about getting wet.

Before she took more than two steps, Sakura felt Sasuke's fingers lace around her arm. She turned around with a curious expression, wondering why her study partner, who had appeared so indifferent towards the weather conditions, decided to get her attention. She couldn't help the warm sensation that filled her cheeks, and tried to hide it.

"Let's go get dinner," Sasuke proposed.

Sakura simply nodded after a moment of silence, as if she was trying to understand what he had said. She was taken by surprise when Sasuke took off his jacket and held it over her head, protecting her from getting wet. (That blush on her face was going to be harder to conceal if he continued with these unexpected actions).

It wasn't uncommon for Sakura to go out for dinner with Sasuke after their study sessions. In fact, it had been more of an occasional tradition after their first meeting. They would pay for their own meals, hence reassuring her that her late-night food runs with Uchiha Sasuke were nothing more than a platonic aspect of their acquaintance.

Sasuke guided her towards the parking lot where he had parked his car. Like many times before, she sat down on the passenger seat and he on the driver seat and they took off. Leaving Konoha U behind, Sakura began to wonder whether Sasuke lived in a different residence or off-campus. She then realized that they never had the chance to talk about mundane things in their lives; they always focused in discussing their lecture notes when they were alone. And whenever they saw each other outside of the classroom or the library, they were surrounded by their friends and too focused on other people to hold a conversation.

"Sasuke, where do you live?" she asked before taking a bite of her burrito.

They had found themselves in a small burrito place that only had five seats, all of them facing out the window. The faint sound of Mexican music accompanied the background noises of the sizzling ground beef.

"I live on the other side of the city," Sasuke replied, much to her surprise.

Perhaps this was her chance to find out more about him. There was something about Sasuke that radiated mystery and danger, she'd realized over the past weeks. He wasn't a person who followed the rules, but rather someone who would overlook every sort of social norm and get by life without a care for the world. His driving habits, for example, made her heart skip beats continuously. The amount of times she had witnessed him breaking the speed limit were countless. His usual careless posture, with hands in his pockets, and an expression of not giving a shit made her wonder if Sasuke really cared about his friends and family.

"Do you live with your family?"

Actually, she didn't even know anything about him. After spending so many hours with the same person, Sakura realized that her perception of Sasuke was based on unsaid assumptions.

After another pause, in which Sasuke took a bite of his burrito, chewed, and swallowed it, he answered.

"No."

"Oh, are they back in Oto? I used to live with my aunt but she travels a lot, which is why I've lived in residence since first year. She's a doctor, and I used to travel around with her. It meant that I had to switch schools often, but Konoha will always be the home in my heart."

If she revealed more information about herself, then Sasuke may be more open with his own lifestyle. It was all 'for the sake of science,' as she said whenever she was too curious about something and needed to find out more.

"Do you have siblings?" Sakura ventured, slightly moving her chair closer to Sasuke.

"Only one."

"Brother?"

"Yes."

"Is he older?"

"Yes."

She assumed that the tensing on his shoulders was due to a typical sibling-rivalry between oldest and youngest. Sakura would have never imagined Sasuke as the younger brother, though. His overall demeanour did not exhibit the same qualities she found around the last of the family. But then again, she did not have any siblings of her own so all of her findings were based on what she saw in other people.

"It must be nice having a sibling," Sakura commented. "It's always been just me and my aunt, so I don't really know much about being in a normal house."

"What happened to your parents?"

It was Sasuke's turn to ask questions. Sakura leaned her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand. She watched the raindrops fall on the other side of the window, thinking of how many times she'd done the same thing while wondering that same question.

"They were never around. Died in an accident. I never felt like I missed them, though. My aunt took me in before I could remember, so no memories of them," she shrugged her shoulders.

It wasn't that it affected her being an orphan, but there were things she still wanted to keep secret from most people so that she isn't reminded of her situation. She only knew her parents' names, and had a hard time relating them to the idea of a mother and a father who were never around because they died before she could even recognize them. There had been times when she tried to find more information about them, but everything led to dead-ends and after years of trying she'd stopped looking for answers adamantly.

"It's okay, though. I have a lot of great friends and a really caring aunt," she didn't even mention that Tsunade wasn't a blood relative, "so I never felt lonely." Or that, sometimes, she and her aunt would find a dent in their relationship.

But the thought of finding who her were parents truly were was always in the back of her mind.

"Feeling lonely is not the issue," he began. "The problem is when the people around you begin to cause you harm."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at the comment. It was rare for Sasuke to say a full sentence, and much less common for him to say something that needed further explanation.

"But then again, you don't have that problem, Haruno Sakura. Your friends care about you very much," Sasuke finished without looking at her. He was also occupied watching the rain fall on the sidewalk.

Sakura had to push her confusion to the back of her mind. A part of her said that if she tried to push the topic any further it might get too difficult for her to handle and she wasn't ready for the encounter. She shook her head and replaced her perplexed expression with a smile.

"Ne, I think we should talk about normal things more often, Sasuke-kun. Our topics of conversation should be more than just school."

She couldn't help adding the suffix at the end of his name. He didn't seem to bother, so she assumed that he was welcomed the idea to being more like friends than just acquaintances.

* * *

><p>Sasuke stopped his car in front of her residence building. The rain was still pouring, if not worse. He thought about the work he had to do tonight as Sakura got off the passenger seat.<p>

"Thanks for tonight again, Sasuke-kun. I'll see you around."

Sakura, who had stayed dry throughout the entire night, went in her building and he watched her head towards the stairs. Then, Sasuke hit the accelerator and took off to in direction to his apartment. Before arriving, though, he had to take care of some matters.

"Juugo," he spoke on his cellphone.

"Sasuke," the other man greeted.

"I need a favour. I will be at your place in ten minutes and would like what you prepared behind his back." And with that, Sasuke hung up his phone and drove into the rainy night.

Once he arrived at his apartment, after making a quick stop at Juugo's office, he unlocked his door and found that nobody had been there all day. Suigetsu had probably been too busy with Orochimaru's drug operation to come and crash at his place. The single blunt left on his coffee table was from another time that Suigetsu had stopped by, Sasuke noted. He left it untouched, thinking that perhaps he would need it later on if he had trouble falling asleep.

Sasuke placed the package that Juugo had given him on his kitchen counter and sat on a bar stool. He opened the rectangle box, and took out a small tablet from inside.

Not too long after his curiosity over Sakura began to rise, Sasuke had asked Juugo for a device that would enable him to browse for information without Orochimaru having access to his browsing history. He had been able to gather some information about the girl after tapping on her phone. However, Sasuke still wanted her to open up about her own life before he began to research more into it. Call it his approach to gain trust. Sasuke noticed how easy it was for her to tell him about her past, as if she had nothing to hide. It only hiked up his interest in what was truly behind Haruno Sakura.

He pressed the on button and found the browsing application. A simple internet search would be sufficient; if Sakura was so open about her life, then finding information about her on the world wide web would not be an issue.

Sasuke's lips formed a side grin as the search results for Haruno Sakura appeared on the screen. Social network sites; school sites; some newspaper articles talking about her voluntary work; and then what truly caught his attention.

The website was one of those that helped people find their roots by sharing family information with other users. It was nothing out of the ordinary, but it did give Sasuke some of the information he needed to further his research. Beside the small avatar of a cherry blossom was a basic description of Sakura, including her age, gender, and blood type. It all matched to the information Sasuke had from before, confirming that he profile he had found was made by Sakura. Below it was a small introduction to the site:

_Hi everyone. My name is Haruno Sakura, and I was born on March 28 in the city of Konoha. I hope that this website will help me find more information about my family origins. I was adopted by a good friend of my parents at the age of one. She's more like an aunt to me, to be honest. Anyway, she told me that my parents died in an accident a year after I was born and that they had no family relatives. Out of all of their friends, they trusted my aunt the most and that's why they assigned her as my guardian. I've searched and searched for information about them, but nothing has popped up in the internet or in local civic centres. I'm not desperate, I just thought I'd give this site a chance. Their names are Haruno Hizashi and Haruno Mebuki. I have no recollection of how they look like nor any photographs, so my only lead-up is their names. If you know anything about them, or think that we might be somehow related, please drop a message on my inbox!_

Sasuke first noticed that the profile had been created five years ago and the last time it had been updated was three years ago. It seemed that Sakura had taken it as a lost battle. Still, the names of her parents were a lead that would take him to a whole different direction. They could be the key behind Sakura's real past and as to why Orochimaru was so interested in her.

However, after he typed in Haruno Kizashi and Haruno Mebuki, nothing appeared on his browser.

It was as if they had been completely erased from the real world. Sasuke's brow tensed. It did not make sense that someone as open as Sakura could come from parents who were virtually wiped off the map. There had to be a justification for that, and one that he needed to find out. Sakura could not know about his true plans, but in order to understand her better he needed to learn more about his own role in the whole scheme of things.

It meant that he needed to pay Orochimaru a visit.

* * *

><p>Orochimaru's office in Konoha was located far away from the downtown area. However, it led to a secret passage through the sewage that acted as an underground tunnel that would connect it to the main square in Konoha. Sasuke, however, decided to take the normal road up to the snake's place by driving around the city. He had already learned the streets by heart, having noticed that many aspects in Konoha had changed.<p>

It was no longer the village-like town he recalled from his childhood. Instead, downtown Konoha resembled more of the metropolitan area he had found in Amegakure with its new tall, grey buildings and flashing lights. Unlike Ame, though, Konoha's weather was drier and the nights colder. Rain poured during this season, symbolizing the beginning of autumn in a city that was still surrounded by the forest.

Sasuke passed by many lower buildings, most of them covered in graffiti. Homeless people from all ages and colours covered many of the streets' corners, begging for money. When they saw Sasuke's sports car pass by, their eyes widened at the sight of such luxury that he felt complied in giving them something back. After all, it was the injustice of Konoha's system that had most likely led them to one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods of the city.

He found Orochimaru's building tucked away in the back of a side street. The naked eye would not have realized that it was the headquarters of one of the most powerful international underground lords, but the dead snake that hung by a nail on the front door was enough of a symbol for Sasuke to know that he was in the right place.

After moving back to Konoha, he had only been here once when he received his assignment on Sakura. The other times he needed to contact the snake he had used his cellphone and had mostly spoken with Juugo. If the snake needed anything to do with him, he would receive a visit from Suigetsu or a package containing the information he needed.

Once he got out of his car, Sasuke entered the building through the door with the hanging dead snake. It led to a long flight of stairs in a dark passage. He could not hear any sounds, but having his katana hanging on his back reassured him that he was prepared for Orochimaru's unpredictability. It had happened to him more than once that when he was paying a visit to the boss that someone would jump out from the shadows and attack him. Most of the instances, Orochimaru would excuse the attack with the need to prepare Sasuke for surprise attacks. A small part of him, though, felt like the snake just wanted to amuse himself by watching Sasuke fight back.

There was a closed door at the end of the flight of stairs. A dim ray of light peeked through the bottom of the door, showing that there was someone on the other side. Without hesitation, Sasuke opened the door and found a square room with nothing but computers. Behind one of the large screens, an orange head looked up and met his eyes.

"Sasuke, what brings you here?"

"Juugo," the Uchiha greeted. They both acted as if their last phone call conversation and meeting did not happen. It was part of the silent agreement he shared with Juugo and Suigetsu. Otherwise Orochimaru would find out about their own secret informaiton.

He noticed the stack of empty bottles beside Juugo's chair, a sign of his dependency on the snake's potions to stay under control. It was also a sign that the poor young man could never leave Orochimaru's side, knowing that no one else could help him with his rare disorder. If there was someone that Sasuke felt compelled to be polite to, it was Juugo. He was born with a condition that was never properly treated by medics, and had spiraled down into the world of organized crime at such a young age that he never learned a way to get out and find help.

"He's in his office," Juugo pointed at the door behind him.

Sasuke nodded, already familiar with the layout of Orochimaru's building. The door behind Juugo showed the emergency sign, meaning that Sasuke found himself with another flight of stairs. He went up until he reached the last floor, passing by the different levels where Orochimaru's minions looked after his organization. Although he had never had a full look at the building, Sasuke already knew its layout by how similar it was to his previous hideouts. Orochimaru owned several of these run-down buildings under the pretense of a landlord renting out apartments.

The mold in the walls were a contrast to the snake's office. It was the only room in the whole building that did not seem to be falling apart with the smell of stale food and cracked ceilings. Orochimaru's room was on the top floor, and it was simply decorated with white walls and a dark wooden floor. There were no windows, and the only source of light came from the long white lamps. The more Sasuke concentrated in memorizing the room, the more it reminded him of a reptile cage.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun. I was just thinking about you."

Orochimaru was sitting on his dark velvet chair, mirroring the same image Sasuke had from their previous encounter. His pet snake, though, was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Kabuto. It was rare to see the underground lord without his left and right hands, and Sasuke became even more aware of his surroundings.

"I'm guessing that you're wondering about your new assignment. Was the information I gave you not enough?" Orochimaru tilted his head sideways, as if he was curious to what Sasuke was going to say.

"Tell me who she is," the younger man commanded.

The low rumble of Orochimaru's chuckle reminded Sasuke that he could not fully trust him. "But that's the whole point of this, dear Uchiha," he said. "We want to find out who she is by keeping tabs on her. It might be that she is just an ordinary girl that is of no concern, or the greatest threat to this city. And the end of the day, it is up to you to decide who she can truly be."

If there was one thing Sasuke truly hated about his boss, it was that he spoke in riddles. But now he had a second thing to add to that list. If Sakura is the important mysterious person Orochimaru needed to know, Sasuke wondered how much his own presence would influence in the long run. He never directly meddled with Orochimaru's affairs, but the idea of an innocent person being the point of interest to someone as controversial as the snake did not sound right to him.

Sasuke had to dig deeper, he told himself once again. Orochimaru was not going to open his damn mouth, so he had to find the answers himself before something drastic were to happen.

* * *

><p><em>So more bonding between Sasuke and Sakura. Naruto gets suspicious. Orochimaru is a riddlefuck. Any song suggestions?<em>

_Wait until the next chapter ;)_

_Sincerely,_

_MSM_


	7. Chapter 7

Orochimaru's organization was hierarchical.

He was at the top, the mobster boss in charge of all affairs. His second in command was Kabuto, who would look at the executive performance of the snake's underlings. The organization was well-known across the underground world of organized crime, and its main goal was to take control in every major city. Under Kabuto's supervision were the younger generation of the organization. Suigetsu overlooked the drug distribution in all the areas Orochimaru controlled, and Jūgo served as his master hacker. They had already cleared the field in Otogakure, where Karin was stationed as the deputy leader while Orochimaru went to different places.

Other cities fell to the same model. The snake would appoint a trusted subordinate who had worked arduously to deserve the position of deputy boss. His recruitment methods were simple, so simple that institutionalized authorities did not really notice his the true intentions. Orphanages were excellent sources of new material; broken, corrupted young souls barely had a chance at succeeding in life in the flawed social system. They would always be cast aside, making them the perfect candidates for Orochimaru's organization.

He would pick up children for spying, cybercrime, anything that he needed. Sometimes, though, he would find a special child who would stand out among the crowd. Uchiha Sasuke was one of those.

When Orochimaru had found the young Uchiha, he thought that the raw power behind his black eyes was the perfect fit for the type of hit man he needed. Surely, Sasuke's arrival, along with Naruto's, only brought a division within the organization. Jiraiya decided to leave with the Uzumaki boy, seeing a 'bright future ahead of his life.' It was all a lie; Jiraiya had left because he didn't agree with the idea of using children as experiments. Much less as murder machines.

And that was what Sasuke had become. He had been given his first weapon at the age of ten, and was trained to become one of the best and most silence hit men in in all of the cities Orochimaru had touched. The tragic story of losing his parents to his older brother was enough incite to drive the boy towards revenge, and to shape his goal of killing Itachi by becoming a successful assassin.

However, Orochimaru encountered the problem of Sasuke's moral code. Even at such a young age, the boy knew that killing for fun was rather erroneous. There were many things the snake had to keep hidden from his disciple if he wanted to keep him in line. Consequently, the human trafficking and experimenting was mostly kept secret. Suigetsu's arrival in the Uchiha's life led to some uncovering of the darkest part of the organization, but Sasuke did not seem to pay much mind to what Orochimaru truly did with his subjects. The snake had had the organization for decades before the arrival of the Uchiha. By keeping him in line, he knew he would have the best killer the world has seen on his side and that his operations would not falter.

Besides, Sasuke was a necessity Orochimaru could not afford losing; he was one of a kind.

Hence why he was given the task of keeping tabs on Haruno Sakura. Orochimaru's mouth tilted sideways, thinking about how everything would unfold in the future months. Not many people knew who the Haruno girl really was, and Danzō had made a wise choice by requesting him to follow her around. After all, she was also an important piece in Orochimaru's chess board.

* * *

><p><strong><strong>CHAPTER SEVEN<strong>**

**CITY COUNCILLOR KUMADE TORIICHI FOUND DEAD**

_The youngest member of Konoha's city councillor was found dead in his apartment last night at approximately 2:30 AM. The forensics department has not released any information on how the politician passed, but it is alleged that Kumade Toriichi was murdered in his living room an hour prior to the discovery. His neighbours allegedly stated that they heard several footsteps in the apartment before it 'all went quiet at around two in the morning.' More information will be known once the police releases a statement after the official autopsy. There were no witnesses, but it is rumoured that other members of the city council were involved in the murder due to Kumade's involvement in political corruptions._

_Our deepest condolences go to Kumade-san's family and friends. His contribution to the city of Konoha will never be forgotten. The mayor will be in live television tonight to give a statement about the events. A memorial service will be held a week from today at the city hall. Information can be found in the city's official website and on our own site._

_(More on page 9-10)_

Sakura read the headline with a surprised expression. She read it once again, staring into her laptop screen, waiting to see if the photograph of the young man would move or if the headline would refresh itself and say that it was all a bluff. The assassination of a politician was a serious issue, she reckoned. It felt like the newspaper was throwing information at its readers without checking the sources.

Was there really political corruption in Konoha? This was the first time she had heard anything like this happening in a peaceful place like her own city. She knew that the streets were safe at night, that her university was well-recognized, and that corruption was not a normal world in the everyday Konoha lingo. Her curiosity led her to her search bar. She typed in the name of Kumade Toriichi and several links popped up. Many were from newspaper sights similar to Konoha's main newspaper, as well as websites from different parts of the country.

Sakura scrolled down, looking at leaked pictures of a corpse covered in blood. She noticed how the blow to the head had in fact been fatal. The rest of the corpse, on the other hand, showed evidence of torture before killing. Her stomach suddenly felt sick at thinking of how the poor man might have suffered before they finished him off. She wondered if it was right to feel sorry for someone who had allegedly been politically corrupt, or if it was just the media playing with her emotions.

A link captured her attention.

**IS AKATSUKI INVOLVED IN THE DEATH OF THE POLITICALLY CORRUPT COUNCILLOR!?**

It didn't seem like a valid source, but she clicked on it anyway.

_The secret organization known as Akatsuki could potentially be behind Kumade Toriichi's murder. Akatsuki, which started in the city of Amegakure as a group of revolutionists, gradually turned to the world of organized crime to decimate the world of evil leaders who pursue selfish ends. If all of our information is correct, Kumade Toriichi was involved with a local mob in stealing money from the government to invest in several red light districts across the Fire Country._

_In the cyberworld, Kumade Toriichi was always referred to as the 'Golden Boy of the Underground World.' It was a nickname that was picked up after somebody had hacked into his computer and found a picture of him with one of the most powerful international mobsters, whose identity is known as the Snake. Although the mainstream media did not pick up on this discovery, we took the responsibility of uncovering the corrupted politician's ties to white-collar crime. It is no wonder that an organization as well-regarded as Akatsuki would have wanted to kill him._

_The following documents are evidence of the twisted mind the young politician had:_

Sakura's eyes skimmed through the list of alleged law violations that Kumade Toriichi had committed throughout his political career. Human trafficking, extortion, tax evasion, counterfeiting of municipal cheques. She could not believe that someone would be in such a position of power and hide all of illegal acts from public eyes. She scratched the back of her head, feeling that it was about time to go to sleep for tomorrow she had an early class.

After she closed the tabs on her browser and turned off her laptop, Sakura headed off to her bed wearing the same clothes she had worn all day. She was too tired to bother changing into her sleeping shirt. Her eyes closed while her mind kept thinking about the line she read at the bottom of that Akatsuki article.

_Dawn is upon us._

* * *

><p>The politician's death was all they talked about the day after. Sakura yawned, regretting not having slept in her class. She could have asked Sasuke for his notes, but a small part of her felt that her study partner would not have paid enough attention during lecture. She rubbed her temple with her fingers, trying to wake herself up for the rest of the day. It was one of her busiest days of the week, with class from eight in the morning until six at night with no breaks. After it, she had to meet up with Sasuke to begin studying for an upcoming test.<p>

"Here."

Sakura opened her eyes and found a hand sticking out a white cardboard cup of coffee. She trailed the hand up the arm until her eyes found Sasuke's blank face. Silently, she took the offer and gave him a small nod in gratitude. The bitter liquid warmed up her throat and she told herself that in a couple of minutes she would feel much better.

Sasuke sat beside her on the curb near the library, the place were they always met for their study sessions. He briefly examined her, giving Sakura enough time to notice that she was being observed.

"I'm not one of the lab's experiments. Stop looking at me like that," she said, taking another sip of her coffee.

"You look like one, that's all. We will not have a study session tonight. Go get some rest."

"But-

"I have something to do. See you around."

And with that Sasuke got up and walked away. Sakura stayed down, wondering how he always got away with everything while staring into his defined back. She needed to keep herself in check before he began to notice how his presence was affecting her. Sakura took another sip of her coffee, telling herself that the blush on her cheeks was due to how hot the drink was and not the effect Sasuke had in showing some sort of concern for her.

* * *

><p>Sakura was growing on him. Perhaps it was because they spent so much time together due to his undercover mission. Or perhaps it was because she was one of the most intelligent people he's ever met, was more than tolerable, and seemed to carry a special effect on him whenever they were together. Nevertheless, he knew that today's worst decision was to leave Sakura's side.<p>

He was stirring up on the inside thinking about the most recent murder in Konoha. Not many people knew about its actual corruption, and he thought about how it was going to change everything from now on. Orochimaru liked to keep things hidden for as long as he could. In their previous cities, he passed unnoticed until he was involved with the highest ranks and seemed to pull out a trump card.

His organization was as secret as it could get. Nobody, other than the people involved, could know about it. Sasuke had to respect that, understanding that although its morals were constantly questionable, he was able to gain a reputation that would keep many criminals off the streets.

Akatsuki, on the other hand, was an organization that was much more well-known due to its growing online fanbase. According to Jūgo, many netizens seemed to agree with Akatsuki's goals of eliminating every form of corruption in power with assassination. A shiver ran down Sasuke's spine as he thought about how the Akatsuki could easily take everything away from him if he didn't play his cards right.

Especially now, knowing that they were finally in town.

"Yo, Sasuke," Suigetsu had spoken from the other line of his cellphone. "It's confirmed. They're here, and they're planning on getting stationed for a while. Apparently that Kumade guy was only the beginning and they wanted to make a statement. Not a very subtle one if you ask me. But anyway, Orochimaru needs you to come by tonight for debriefing. He expects to hear about your babysitting job."

Sasuke remembered the conversation he had with Naruto not too long ago. He wondered if Sakura, with her growing involvement in his world's affairs, would finally find a place in the intricate puzzle he was creating in his mind.

However, right now, he needed to focus on the arrival of the Akatsuki in Konoha. It only meant one thing: Itachi was making a public move. He making a statement at Sasuke.

_Dawn is upon us._

* * *

><p>On Friday morning, Sasuke decided to skip his lectures that day and focus on what was truly important. Sakura would hand him the notes next time they saw each other. She would probably throw a fit at his absence, but the thoughts running through his mind were priority.<p>

After setting down a mug on his coffee table, Sasuke turned on the tablet that Jūgo had provided him. It was time to do more background research about who Haruno Sakura might truly be. He decided to, once again, start by typing in the girl's name on the search browser to see if something new would appear. Much to his dismay, the pages concerning Sakura were still the same as before.

Sasuke took out the folder that contained all the information he'd been given about the Haruno. He went through her file, as he had done many times before, and skimmed for something that would miraculously give him a hint.

_Full Name: Haruno Sakura_

_Birthday: March 28_

_Gender: Female_

_Important notes:_

_-Parents information: uknown._

_-Student at Konoha U's Faculty of Medicine._

_-Orphan. Adopted by her aunt._

_-Spent her childhood moving from city to city._

After that, there were random notes and scribbles he'd written down about Sakura's behaviour and activities he had learned from tapping on her cell phone, such as how much she enjoyed studying at the library or the times she had gone out with her friends. Sasuke could not grasp the concept of how someone so normal as her could be of interest to Orochimaru and whoever Danzō was.

Danzō...

Sasuke looked for the letter that he had received from Orochimaru at the beginning of the school year. He remembered wanting to find out more about that name, and what the connection was. Once he found the snake's letter, he held it up in front of his eyes and read it multiple times, trying to find a clue that might ease his curiosity. If he was a colleague of Orochimaru, then Danzō could be anyone. He could be an important public figure, the head of a large conglomerate, another mob boss whose imprint is in Konoha.

He typed in the name on the search browser and waited until results came up.

* * *

><p>The skyline of Konoha could be well appreciated from where he was sitting. His desk chair was now facing the large window, which went from ceiling to floor, and exposed every vulnerability that the city carried in its streets. The office was on one of the tallest buildings, but it was strategically located on the twelfth floor, enabling his one eye to observe Konoha from up above as a god, yet still close enough to see what all its citizens were doing late at night.<p>

He touched the bandaged side of his face, recalling the time when fire had almost killed him. It happened many years ago, but the feeling of scorching fire burning his skin remained with him, and every time he closed his eyes he replayed the same scene in the back of his mind. His skin had healed, but the scars left behind had created an identity that was better represented with half of his face covered.

After all, his reputation was covered. His profession; his life. He was the shadow puppeteer who controlled what actually mattered in the city. He was the one who took care of the dirty work for those undeserving bastards working at the city hall. Pride and prosperity were a nice cover up to the real Konoha, the one that actually functioned with extortion, secret alliances, and a secret group of people who were in charge of doing the impossible to keep the city running.

He remembered how everything almost slipped out of his fingers during that fire almost two decades ago. The Night of Amaterasu. Konoha's underground world had never been so unstable as that same night, not until the other fire that killed one of the country's most prominent families. Konoha could only survive by finding stability in corruption, that he had concluded several times.

He took a sip of his drink, thinking of how the risk of losing it all again was right around the corner. They'd been hiding her for too many years, running away, protecting her until they thought she was not going to care about taking it all from an old man like him. She was the largest obstacle in his complex weave of organizations and power. She should have never lived, he noted, though the speculations that she was too interested being a normal person were quite true. The snake had taken care of getting to know her better, and had reported back to him that she was less of a threat than the fly on his window.

Nevertheless, he knew that power could corrupt even the most innocent of souls. He'd seen it happen before; give a humble man the idea that he can rule the world and he will do so. Ambition was part of human nature. It cannot be stopped.

"I have a new request for you," he said aloud.

Though it looked like he was sitting alone, looking out his window, he could hear the ruffling of clothes from behind his chair. His disciples were trained to be quiet, to be the darkest of shadows in the lightest of days. He and the snake always had that in common; they liked silent business over large explosions. Keeping their reputations out of the spotlight was what made them and the real public figures happy. Either way, the money always fell in his pocket.

"Yes, Danzō-sama."

The old man turned around with his desk chair and looked straight into the pale face of his most valued disciple. Hidden amid the darkness of his office, Danzō could still recognize the outline of the boy's straight black hair and slender build.

Danzō could confess that he had been blessed when the young boy had fallen on his presence. Finding scum to do his every day business was a normal thing to do; he had disciples of disciples who took care of that. He never bothered scouting for young apprentices who could take care of his organization once he was gone, but when he first laid eyes on the young man in front of him, he'd seen a potential that transcended every imaginable possibility in his affairs

The way the boy killed, at such a young age, was what caught his attention. Even while he was living in the sewers around Konoha, he'd already learned how to choke small animals for survival, and knew how to hide from the light, passing by unnoticed by the every day residents of the city. For Danzō, though, this meant an opportunity to have a wider peripheral vision on everything that concerned him. Not many knew about the boy's existence; he was a ghost in broad daylight much like Danzō himself.

He liked to keep it that way. The less his inferiors knew about his approach in keeping tabs on everyone the better. However, the boy had to get out of his comfort zone and appear in the public sphere without any sort of connection back to Danzō. The fact that he did not remember anything from his childhood, or the way his facial muscles worked to express emotions, would not hinder his new assignment.

The snake had appointed someone to look into the girl for him. Danzō could not fully trust his colleague. It was a universal rule in the world of organized crime. He had to place his own set of eyes in the sky to see what could not go unseen.

"We are going to have you act as my hawk eye once again."

* * *

><p>"Jūgo, put the snake on the phone," Sasuke ordered, one hand holding his cellphone and the other on his steering wheel.<p>

A part of his was getting desperate in finding more information. Although he decided to head over to Orochimaru's office after he'd exited his apartment, he felt that his car was not going back enough to ease his mind. He needed to know more. There were too many things left unsaid that were bothering him.

"Geez, next time check who picked up the phone before saying a random name out loud. Always trying to sound like a genius," Suigetsu replied. "Orochimaru's not here. He decided to leave for a couple of days to check on Otogakure."

"Shit."

Sasuke took a sharp turn to the right, heading down a narrow alley where he parked his car. He got out, and started pacing around his car, his pulse quickening. The deserted corridor was enough space to let out his anger.

"Sasuke- you still-?

Sasuke didn't let Suigetsu finish his question. He threw the cellphone on the ground and opened the trunk of his car. After rummaging through his clothes, he found his concealed weapon. He unsheathed his katana and headed towards the filled garbage bags that were laying around on the sidewalk. Although the feeling of flesh cutting under his blade would be absent, he needed to slice something. He needed to let out his frustrations. _Now._

The alley's silence was interrupted by the sound of plastic and empty beer cans falling on the ground. Sasuke continued slicing through the garbage bags as thoughts raced through his mind. He barely let himself lose control. Often, he would sit down and meditate, but the need to run his blade across Orochimaru's face would not be satisfied so soon and it angered him even more. It was as if the snake knew what was going to happen. That after giving Sasuke certain clues he would figure something out and then take off when the time was right.

That insolent bastard.

Sasuke let out a loud grunt after he had finished destroying the garbage bags. With heavy breathing, he returned to his car and sat on the driver seat, his katana placed beside him. He tried to once again recollect his thoughts of the last hours of the day.

The names Danzō Shimura, Orochimaru, and the Night of Amaterasu kept swirling around in his mind. After finding the results for Danzō, Sasuke had learned of the old man's last name and his obscure reputation in Konoha. He was, to very specific websites' users, known as the 'one who washed Konoha's dirty laundry and then dried it up.' In other words, this Danzō figure acted as a connection between the public figures and the underground world, Sasuke concluded.

He was Orochimaru's colleague. He had been behind the death of his family. There were enough articles on the web about his involvement in the Night of Amaterasu, the night where Sasuke had lost everything he had ever cared about. And Orochimaru had probably known this all along; he took Sasuke in as a young boy and trained him to become one of his pawns, thinking that the Uchiha would never betray him.

Not to mention that both old men held an interest in Sakura, and it was still something he had yet to discover. A small tugging sensation on his chest caught Sasuke off-guard. The thought of giving the girl's personal information and whereabouts to the snake and Danzō made him feel slightly uneasy for some odd reason. He quickly dismissed that sensation, reminding himself that Sakura was just another piece in their bigger board game and soon enough he would not have to deal with her.

Right now, though, he still needed to find more information on Akatsuki's whereabouts. They were in town. _Itachi_ was in town, waiting for him to show up.

Sasuke's death list just kept getting longer and longer. After he was done with Itachi, Orochimaru would be next.

And after that, he would kill Danzō.

* * *

><p><em>I'm on a roll at the moment. This is what being a recent uni grad does to you. Also, applying for a master's is a bitch and a half.<em>

_Probably going to update less frequently now because I need to pay attention to life. _Throw tomatoes at me if you'd like, they're my fave.__

_Sincerely,_

_MSM_


	8. Chapter 8

_"Yo, Sasuke. Let's play vigilantes again."_

_He couldn't help but agree that the idea of roaming around the city like shadows at night with his old friend sounded like the perfect getaway from the shitty time he was going through at the moment._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER EIGHT<strong>

Naruto could not stop grinning as he looked at himself in the mirror. Clad in all black, much like Sasuke, he was once again part of the shadow he'd left so long ago. Sasuke, on the other hand, was so accustomed to the outfit that it felt like a second layer of skin on his body. When Naruto proposed the idea of doing some night rounds in the city like they had done when they were younger, Sasuke could not have thought of better timing.

His mind had been filled with the intent on killing so many people lately that he needed to find a distraction. His sleeping patterns had worsened, and Sakura even noticed that his reflexes were not as sharp as before. If his assigned subject became aware that there was something deeply troubling him, then Sasuke knew that he needed to exercise his control over his emotions once again. Luckily, Uzumaki Naruto specialized in being a distraction with his obnoxious blond hair and voice. Not to mention that he was willing to set aside their differences, and his suspicion over Sasuke's involvement in Sakura's life, for one night of exhilarating running in the shadows.

Sasuke often wondered how his friend went through the same training as him and was never caught with his loud mouth. He ought to owe that to Naruto's sheer determination, a characteristic that he rubbed off on Sasuke himself.

After gathering the right materials for their night out, Sasuke drove them both back to his apartment to get ready. The all-black outfit was standard in Orochimaru's ranks. They would never show their true authority in case competitors got their hands in one of the snake's minions. Sasuke lent Naruto his spare uniform, knowing that both were of a similar built, and then set out a luggage filled with several weapons that normal people would never thought still existed.

"If you keep looking at yourself like that we will make it out of here by sunrise," Sasuke said as he knelt down and assessed the diverse range of weapons that came in the heavily guarder luggage.

"You're just jealous because my ass looks better than yours in this."

He ignored Naruto's comment as he picked up an extra pair of kunai and secured them in his thigh holster. The Uzumaki boy, then, joined him in awing over the materials he had not seen in years. Sasuke knew that after Naruto went back to his family he had lost every sort of contact with the underworld. Nevertheless, his previous brief encounters at the gymnasium had shown him that Naruto still kept in shape after all those years. Perhaps it was because of habit, or because it let him escape from his own reality.

It didn't matter at that moment. Naruto was too excited to feel the cold metal under his fingers once again that it reminded Sasuke of the first time they ever held a weapon. When they had first started training with Jiraiya and Orochimaru, they would often sneak out of their hideouts and fight low-level criminals who were causing a ruckus at night. Though it meant less sleep for the two adolescents, Sasuke still argued that he learned more fighting for justice with Naruto than training as a member of the snake's organization.

His life, since that point, had always been surrounded by murder assignments, and with Naruto he had the opportunity to go after the bad guys without an authority telling him who to kill next. It felt as his own sort of freedom at times.

"You better not slow me down, dobe."

"Ha, as if you think I still don't give the name the Yellowflash justice. Konoha doesn't know what's coming tonight."

As they both jumped from rooftop to rooftop, Sasuke was reminded of the thrill he felt when he was young and careless. He and Naruto would not exchange many words, as their actions spoke louder than words, but each other's presence had become a symbol of attempting to have a normal life.

Sasuke took a longer jump, doing a flip in mid-air, and then softly landed on his feet. Naruto, who was still on the opposite rooftop, huffed and took some steps back. He readjusted his clothes and gear, and then began to run towards the edge of the building. The blond boy took a leap, his legs still in running motion as he jumped up in the air. He landed beside Sasuke, did a cartwheel, and ended on his feet with his hands on his hips. He looked straight at the Uchiha with a smug grin, knowing that this night had somehow returned them to their younger years.

The Uchiha was still slightly impressed at his friend's agility. It had been years since he left training, but his movements were as swift as ever. Sasuke, whose own skills have only improved, felt that he could no longer take Naruto lightly.

"And you said you didn't wanna slow down, teme?" said Naruto before running towards the edge on the opposite side and taking the same leap towards the next building.

Sasuke followed him, hearing the sounds of ambulance sirens and beeping horns from below. The streets of Konoha were busy that night, as it usually was on weekends, when he was supposed to be doing the extra homework Sakura had assigned him. But he did not attend that pathetic institution to learn medicine from a bunch of professors whose paychecks came from who-knew-where. He reminded himself of the mission he was carrying, as well as the opportunity in gave him to learn more about Akatsuki and Itachi.

Education was never his thing, anyway.

"I have an even better idea!" exclaimed the Uzumaki, whose right leg was placed on a concrete box on their current rooftop and was spinning a kunai around his index finger. "What if -no, wait, Sasuke, this is _good._ What if... we investigate what happened to that dead guy from the city hall?_"_

"You mean Kumade Toriichi?"

"Yeah, that guy."

Sasuke pondered on the idea for a few moments. It would mean infiltrating into the dead man's house, finding clues that the useless police would not have been able to catch on, and perhaps find out if his brother had been present during the assassination. He was certain that the deceased councilor had had some sort of connection to Akatsuki before getting killed; the cult organization did not take lives on a whim. All of their movements had a purpose, as far as he knew.

In fact, maybe he would be able to find out more about the organization itself. During his past decade with Orochimaru, Sasuke had not been able to learn much about Akatsuki due to their lack of literary material, as well as his own concentration in having a stronger body. The scars left on his skin were proof that he had taken his body to the limit more than once. Nevertheless, Juugo did not even have much information about the cult, inciting Sasuke even more to go in Kumade Toriichi's old place and find out if he had left behind any hints about Akatsuki.

"Let's do it," he proposed, and took a jump down the building into a fire emergency stairs. It brought him back to the ground level, Naruto following him, and both men began to run within the shadows towards a place that could perhaps have some answers.

* * *

><p>"Sakura, let's go out on Friday night! Hinata's told me she doesn't have much to do for next week and neither do we. I think we owe the club a visit," Ino winked.<p>

Sakura, who was sitting on her bed folding her laundry, looked over at her best friend with a small smile on her face. Some things never changed.

"Ino, you love partying way too much. It makes me wonder how you got into medicine."

The blonde girl laughed. "It's all about balance, my friend."

Ino usually stayed over once every two weeks to keep Sakura company. It had been a promise they'd made back in high school. They said that they would keep each other company at least once every two weeks so they did not grow apart, and it was an activity that had never changed during their university years.

"You could invite Sasuke along, you know," suggested her friend.

Sakura took in a deep sigh, as if she was trying to remind that there was absolutely nothing happening between her and her study partner. They were just friends, that was all. Friends who would share notes with one another, spend time together over medical studies, and would occasionally have conversations that were outside of school. Still, Sakura knew that the rising temperature around her cheeks when she saw him wasn't normal.

"Maybe we could invite the whole group," Sakura said. She started to put her clothes away, and a faint blush grew in her cheeks as she remembered her first encounter with Sasuke.

"That actually sounds like a better plan. I'll call everyone, but you have to be the one who invites Sasuke. Oh, come _on,_ Sakura. Don't act like I can't tell!"

"Shut up, Pig."

"It's so obvious, though. This is probably the first time I have ever seen you get so worked up over a guy. I wasn't there when you had that thing going on with, what was his name again?"

"Kankurou."

"Yeah, that guy from your summer abroad trip. And you never really told me what happened between you two, anyway. I think that it's time that you get around that and tell me why you didn't go any further with him."

Sakura sighed, looking at her friend with a defeated expression. She didn't want to talk about Kankurou because it had been a ridiculous summer fling where she got too carried away by sweet words and pretty roses. But Sakura knew that Ino would not stop pestering her until she gave away more information.

"Well, I already told you that he was my first."

"And...?"

"I kinda told him I loved him after we had sex for the last time. It was so embarrassing. He just looked at me for, like, an eternity without saying a single word."

_"And?" _pressed Ino.

"And then we had sex again."

"That's my girl! See, you need to be more open about your experiences. If you keep acting like sex isn't an important part of your life, then Sasuke'll never get the hint that you want him in your pants."

"Ino!"

"I'm _just_ saying. Here's a really hot guy who just wants to spend time with you -no, don't interrupt me. If it was all because he wants to study then he wouldn't give you a ride home every time _or_ take you out to dinner, right?"

Sakura still hadn't told her about that time when they went out for breakfast together, or how their conversations sometimes drift away from medicine. She wanted to leave those details out because, in her eyes, they were rather irrelevant to the nature of their relationship. Sasuke had only been around in her life for a couple of months by now, and she still didn't know him to fully say that they were good friends. She knew the basics, such as his family background and why he transferred to Konoha U. But did she know him well enough to say that her attraction to him was more than just physical.

"You're doing that thing again," commented Ino.

"What thing?"

"You're _thinking_ about him," she teased, wiggling her eyebrows and causing Sakura's face to gradually turn red.

"No, I'm not!"

* * *

><p>Breaking into a dead man's apartment was always an easy task for Sasuke. He already knew ho wot move around his premises without touching anything, not leaving any trace of his presence. Naruto, on the other hand, was never able to master the same skill and it was obvious to his friend that his hands were itching to touch anything in his sight.<p>

"Calm down," Sasuke told him, turning around for the umpteenth time to discover the Uzumaki reaching out for a binder lying on top of the kitchen table. "I doubt it's got anything important. It's too exposed."

Naruto pouted and stuck in hands in his pockets.

Kumade Toriichi's apartment was in the wealthiest part of town. Finding the building had not been difficult either, as it was one of the tallest in Konoha. Only the really rich would live here; entrepreneurs, businessmen, politicians. Corrupted politicians, Sasuke added mentally.

It was on the twenty eighth floor, and looking down from a window exposed Konoha as a city made of ants and miniature infrastructure. The layout was much larger than Sasuke's own apartment. Although the entrance was crossed with police tape, the two men got in without any problem. The living room, where Kumade Toriichi had been found dead, remained intact. The mess left by his killer, along with the blood stains on the carpet, would always haunt the first-class apartment. It had only been a couple of days since it happened, and the myth around the politician's death was every day more and more pathetic.

This had been an attack from Akatsuki, but not many people knew who they were. The cult organization was just as secretive as Sasuke himself.

"I'll check the bedroom and bathroom," Naruto announced, and he disappeared into the darkness of the hallway that led to another wing of the apartment. "Don't worry, asshole. I'm wearing gloves," he added.

Sasuke took the other wing of the apartment, exiting the living room and finding Toriichi's private office. It was as standard as all the other ones he had broken into before. Large table in the middle of the room, a book case on one side, pictures hanging on the other. Though it was dark in the room, Sasuke had no problem making his way around.

He reached for the office desk, observing it for any sort of scratch or indentation that may lead to something else. The truth around how the politician got killed was still a mystery to the authorities. Sasuke stood in front of the desk for a moment, taking in the direction in which the office chair was angled at, the disorganization of several municipal documents spread around. It had seemed like a normal office to naked eyes, but as Sasuke moved around to observe the office from the opposite angle, he noticed something.

One of the drawers in Kumade Toriichi's desk was half open. It had been as if something had clicked on his brain, but Sasuke could gradually see a scene unfold in front of him as he put all the pieces together.

He could see Kumade Toriichi sitting on his desk, looking at an important piece of information in the middle of the night, with the lights off. He didn't want anyone to find out what secret he was holding, but somehow someone had. Sasuke imagined the surprised reaction the politician must have had when he found a group of people, perhaps three of more individuals, standing in his office with him unaware. Their dark cloaks gave away their allegiance, and Kumade Toriichi's eyes widened when he realized who had paid him a visit.

Sasuke imagined the politician hiding the important document in a drawer but not properly closing it. It could be that whatever he was hiding had already been taken away by the Akatsuki, knowing that the police would do a thorough search of his apartment. Nevertheless, Sasuke continued imagining how Kumade Toriichi was dragged from his chair and out of his office.

His mind reenacted a Kumade Toriichi who was so afraid that he could blabber on and on, trying to avoid getting killed or exposed for all of his under-the-table negotiations. He could even sense the fear that lingered in the apartment, its owner dead and long gone. The sound of a knife slicing through a neck replayed in the back of Sasuke's mind, all too used to hearing it.

And he imagined that the last thing Kumade Toriichi saw was the face of Uchiha Itachi.

Although there was no confirmation that his brother had been part of the assassination, Sasuke's instinct led him to believe that Itachi had been standing in the same place as him not too long ago. His jaw tightened, thinking that if time were on his favour then he would have already found Itachi and stabbed him in-

_RIIIINGGG RIIIIINNNG RIIIIING_

"I thought you said we couldn't bring our cellphones!" he heard Naruto complain from the other side of the apartment.

Sasuke ignored his friend's comment and reached for his cellphone, a little surprised at who had decided to call him at such an odd hour.

"Um, hello, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura's tone was a few pitches higher than usual.

"Sakura," he replied, somehow forgetting where he was and taking a seat on Kumade Toriichi's former office chair.

"I was uh... wondering if you'd like to go out with me -I mean, and with a couple of people- this Friday night. Y'know, the usual club night out-"

"Sure. I'll see you then." Sasuke began looking at the municipal documents spread across the table, focusing on the symbol of Konohagakure. It was a spiral with a triangle attached on its bottom right corner.

"Okay... and um... you know how our work load isn't that heavy right now," Sasuke looked at his surroundings, wondering if he what he was doing right now could be considered a heavy work load. "So maybe we could, y'know, take a break from the study sessions."

His fingers travelled down to the desk drawer that was half open, wondering why he couldn't hang up to the girl knowing that there were more pressing matters than arranging a night out with her.

"Okay. See you then," he repeated.

"All right, have a good night and sorry for calling you at such a weird hour. Bye!"

But Sasuke didn't hang up until he heard Sakura say bye.

He decided that it was time to open the drawer and see what was in there. His eyes widened at the realization that it was completely empty except for a small paper, folded in half, that was found right in the middle. Sasuke had been right; either Akatsuki had taken the document that Kumade Toriichi had been hiding, or the authorities had found something suspicious and taken it under their evidence.

Still, it did not explain how one single white paper had remained intact. Sasuke's only guess was that somebody had infiltrated the apartment after the police had departed and left a note in there.

And when he opened the note, his heart dropped.

_Two can play the same game, little brother._

His mouth dried, as he read the line a couple more times. The whole scenario he had previously imagined in his mind became more real, as realization dawned upon him. Sasuke concluded that Itachi knew. Itachi knew that Sasuke would, one way of another, end up sitting in the politician's office, looking for clues on his whereabouts. And, much like the night that Itachi had killed his family, Sasuke still felt that all of the lead ups and clues had left him with an empty answer.

Sasuke found it difficult to breathe. This had been the first sort of interaction he had had with his lost brother in a decade, and a small part of him wished he could just see Itachi just to _talk._ To talk about what had happened that night. Why. Why did he do it?

Why did he take everything away from Sasuke and led him down a darkened path?

"Yo, Sasuke."

Why did he have to kill two of the best people Sasuke had ever met?

"Sasuke, you there?"

Okaa-san... Otou-san...

"HEY!"

Sasuke did not realize that Naruto had was standing in front of him until he felt the stinging sensation of a slap on his cheek. He realized his hands were trembling, crumbling up the paper, and that his brow was sweating. Naruto watched his oldest friend go through a panic attack, knowing that it was best to let Sasuke fend for himself as he was never one to ask for help.

"He knows," Sasuke managed to say after a long pause.

"He knows?" repeated Naruto, looking at the piece of paper that his friend tightly held in his hands.

"Itachi knows that we were coming. Let's get out of here."

* * *

><p>Sakura took another look at her digital alarm. It read 3:24 AM. She groaned, covering herself up with her duvet cover, though it did not help her fall asleep. She had been like this for about five hours by now, trying to fall asleep but not being able to because of some weird reason behind her mind. It was one of those nights where she felt like she was expecting something to happen but in the end just kept her up until the next morning.<p>

And she had a lecture in about six hours. Then another one in about eight.

Tonight, she finally concluded, was not going to be a good one.

Sakura finally sat on her bed, turning on her lamp to give some light in her dark dorm room. She started at a corner for what felt like an eternity. An unsettling feeling came down in her belly, making her feel frustrated with herself.

It had been a while since she had last seen Sasuke. He had been skipping class for the past two days and all she wanted to do was check up on him. That was what had made her call him up a couple of hours ago to ask him if he was free Friday night. She had been quite surprised when he picked up the call, and it had been quite obvious by her tone of voice that she was somewhat nervous.

Maybe he had been sick for the past couple of days, or had a personal emergency. Sakura felt guilty calling him up in the middle of the night, but her selfish side told her that she wouldn't be able to fall asleep until she heard his voice.

Maybe a small part of her did miss him. She had grown accustomed to seeing him at least once a week, or interacting with him in one way or another.

And now, maybe, she was too nervous about Friday night to fall asleep. Sakura felt ridiculous at this point. Nothing big was going to happenl; it only meant going out with a couple of friends and doing what she always liked to do in Friday nights. It was as if she was developing a small crush on her friend.

But, was she?

Sakura shook her head. She needed some air. She got out of her bed, put on her slippers, a sweater, and headed out of her dorm room. The hallway that led to her neighbouring rooms was still lit, but it was as silent as a morgue.

She adjusted the sweater around her arms and headed towards the vending machine on the other side of the floor. Her steps were the one thing one could hear in there, and she started to hum to herself. Once Sakura got to the vending machine, she inserted her money and chose the chocolate bar that seemed most appealing to her taste buds. After getting it, she planned on going back to her dorm and get started with some homework until-

"Ouch!"

"I'm so sorry."

Sakura rubbed her nose, which had collided with the other person's shoulder, and looked up to find a taller young man who had also intended on getting something from the vending machine.

"It's alright. I should pay more attention," she said, putting the chocolate bar in her pocket. "Are you new? I've never seen you here before. I don't mean to appear rude," she added, "it's just that I've been living in this floor since first year."

Sakura took a step back and got a better look at the person standing beside her. He was tall and extremely pale. His skin almost blended in with the white of the walls, but contrasted significantly with his short black straight hair. There was something about him that reminded her of Sasuke.

"Yes, I'm new here," he replied, giving her a small smile.

Something about his tone threw her off, and she thought that it was about time to return to her room.

"Well, welcome to the building, uh..."

"Sai," he provided her answer.

"Welcome, Sai. My name is Sakura. I hope you enjoy it here!"

Sakura turned around and left for her room as she heard Sai drop coins into the vending machine. She wondered how and why it was that she had never seen him before, even when the school year started. There were usually activities for the residence students, but perhaps he was not interested in participating.

Once she reached her room, Sakura got in and sat on her chair. She opened one of her textbooks, and became lost in her homework until the early hours of the morning.

* * *

><p><em>Planning for the future is a bitch.<em>

_sincerely,_

_MSM_


End file.
